Seeing Double
by Qille
Summary: Sequel to Bottled Up. When Nico's identical twin brother, Rico, hears about Nico's kidnapping, he comes to visit. And with Maurice still out there and two identical canaries... the danger level just got even higher. Rating may change.
1. Secret's Out

_A/N: Yay, I'm happy for the sequel! Before I begin, I wanna thank KhallieGurl and Takara Matsudaira for helping me out. THANKS! Sorry if this chapter's short. I'm coming down with a massive case of writers block. D8_

**Seeing Double**

Secrets don't stay secret for very long, especially if you live in Rio de Janeiro, which might as well be the gossip capital of the world. Everyone knows one another; news gets around fast.

Nico was no exception. It had now been about a month since his kidnapping, and only a week since he had woken up, but just about every single bird knew about it.

However, the kidnapping wasn't the only thing he was trying to hide. There was one big secret that he had been hiding from everyone, even his friends. And today was the day they all found out.

**xxx**

"Just ignore 'em," said Pedro. "They'll quit starin' in a minute."

"Sometimes I wish I was a chameleon," groaned Nico. It was really the first time he had flown farther than the jungle since his attack, but with everyone's eyes on him, he longed to be back in his bed.

The two friends were flying over the beach, where every single bird they passed stared. Nico hadn't really wanted to leave the hollow, but Pedro had been jumpier than a cricket with all his built up energy. Either way, Nico felt like he owed Pedro. After all, he did save his life.

They flew over the water and landed on a stranded upside-down Frisbee, using it as a floating platform.

"How did everyone find out about what happened?" Nico asked, sitting down.

Pedro, who had flopped down on his back, took a minute to respond. "Um... I guess 'cause we haven't performed at the Alley in a while. And everyone knows you. And I spent a whole night at the Alley while you were missing askin' people if they saw you. And I think Ralfy was tellin' everyone."

"What? Why?"

"Meh, you know Ralfy. Sometimes he just can't shut his mouth."

"Like someone else I know?"

Pedro sat up. "Ha ha, very funny." He closed his eyes and laid back down again. "Ugh, it's been a long month."

"Tell me about it," muttered Nico, thinking about how he had been held captive for one week, in a coma for the next two weeks, and now this week, everyone was staring at him.

The day after Nico had woken up had been a crazy one. Rafael had come to visit that morning and was shocked to find Nico awake. Nico had asked Rafael to take him to see Blu and Jewel and tell them he was okay. He hadn't counted on the kids being awake. Blu and Jewel had to physically restrain their kids from attacking Nico, but they were happy that he was okay.

Nico had spent the rest of that week in bed, healing and trying to regain some of the weight he had lost. Albeit, he was still dangerously thin, but not as bad as when he had been rescued.

Nico stretched his wings and closed his eyes. He had gotten his bandages taken off of his chest and wing yesterday, but he still had to take it easy. He still wasn't allowed to perform for another week.

He opened his eyes again and looked over at Pedro, who was probably asleep already. Nico found it hilarious that Pedro could go from being on a sugar high one minute and then asleep the next.

Leaning over the side of the Frisbee, Nico took off his bottle cap and filled it with water. He turned around and dumped the water over Pedro's head.

"Gah!" sputtered Pedro, sitting up and spitting out sea water. He shook the water out of his eyes and glared at Nico. "Hey man, what was that for?"

Once Nico stopped laughing, he tried to put on a serious face and said, "If you take a nap now, you'll be up all night!" He went back to laughing so hard that his sides hurt. "Your face was hilarious!"

Pedro sat for a minute, watching Nico laugh. Slowly, an evil grin spread across his face. He gripped the edges of the Frisbee and tipped it to the side; not enough to flip it over, but enough for Nico, who hadn't been expecting it, to flip off and into the water.

Nico resurfaced and coughed out some water as Pedro started laughing. Nico grabbed onto the edge of the Frisbee, his bottle cap in his hand, and glared at Pedro, who just laughed even harder.

"Yeah, ha ha, very funny, now help me up," growled Nico, holding up his left wing.

Pedro managed to reduce his laughter to giggles, and he stood up and walked over to Nico. Pedro grabbed Nico's left wing and pulled him back up onto the Frisbee. As he did so, Nico winced a bit. Pedro picked up on this and his laughter disappeared.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, fine," said Nico. "Just a little sore."

"Well, if you-"

"CANNONBALL!" shouted a voice from above.

_SPLASH!_

Something splashed down into the water right next to the Frisbee. The Frisbee flipped over, tossing both Nico and Pedro into the water.

Nico grabbed onto his bottle cap again to prevent it from being lost, and Pedro grabbed onto the upturned Frisbee, mainly because he still had not yet completely mastered the art of swimming. Another figure emerged from under the water and began laughing at them.

"Ralfy!" exclaimed Nico, laughing a bit himself.

"Surprise!" exclaimed Rafael.

"Yeah, we were surprised all right," muttered Pedro, who had scrambled up onto the Frisbee again. Nico swam over to the Frisbee too and Pedro pulled him up.

"Haven't seen you guys out and about lately," said Rafael, floating on his back next to the Frisbee.

"Well, there's a reason for that," said Nico.

"Man, you _are_ getting old if you already forgot 'bout everything," joked Pedro. "Are those gray feathers I see?"

"Hey, I wouldn't be joking about gray feathers," said Rafael. "Look at yourself."

"I don't know what you're-" Pedro looked down at himself. "Oh... oops..."

"So what're you doin' here, Ralfy?" asked Nico.

"I came by to see you guys, but you weren't home," said Rafael. "Of course you'd end up at the beach."

"Because the beach is awesome," said Pedro.

"I know that ain't the only reason you're here," said Nico.

"Yeah, and I also followed Blu and Jewel," said Rafael, pointing towards the beach, where five Blue Macaws stood out against the sugary white sand.

"Why are they here?" asked Pedro.

"Look to the left," said Rafael.

Standing next to Blu and Jewel was Linda, Tulio, and Fernando, all in beach clothes.

"They took the day off?" asked Nico.

"Yep."

"C'mon, let's go say hi," said Pedro. He took off with Nico and Rafael close behind.

As they flew back towards the beach, a lot of the birds started staring again. Nico immediately noticed this and flew a bit closer to Rafael.

As they landed on the beach, a flock of seagulls started whispering among one another, occasionally glancing over at Nico. One of them even started pointing.

After ignoring them for a minute, Nico turned around and shouted, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" The seagulls quickly scattered. Nico turned back around to face his friends, who were also staring at him. "Sorry..." he muttered.

"Hey, it's okay," said Pedro, giving Nico a friendly punch on the left shoulder (not the right, for obvious reasons). "Them seagulls ain't got no manners."

Nico just sighed and slouched over a bit. He, Pedro, and Rafael walked over to the others.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Rafael.

"Clouds and birds," joked Blu. Everyone else groaned. "Sorry. Couldn't resist."

"So anyways..." said Jewel, "it's good to see you guys again."

At this point, little Javier fluttered over to Nico.

"Did you really die?" he asked bluntly.

"Of course not!" exclaimed Nico. "I was just... um..." Nico looked over to Blu and Jewel. "How much did you tell him? I don't wanna give him nightmares or anything."

"So you _were_ dead!" exclaimed Javier. He turned around and shouted to Rey and Abelina: "You were right! He was dead!" At this point, Pedro burst into laughter again.

"No I wasn't!" exclaimed Nico. "If I did die, then how am I still alive?"

"Good point," muttered Javier. He turned back to his siblings. "Never mind!"

"C'mon, Javier, back to playing in the sand," said Jewel, ushering Javier back towards the other two Macaw chicks. She stayed with them to make sure they didn't run off.

Nico looked back to Blu. "Seriously man, what were you telling them?"

"We told them that-"

"Hey, Nico!" came a voice. Everyone looked over to see a seagull, standing a few feet away from them.

"What?" shouted Nico.

"I got a message for ya!"

Nico looked at the others and shrugged. He fluttered over to the seagull, and they started talking.

Pedro sat up from the ground, where he had fallen while laughing. Nico and the seagull were too far away to hear, so Pedro studied Nico's facial expression. At first, he looked indifferent, but slowly, his eyes widened and his face took on a look of horror.

Nico said something, and Pedro was actually able to decipher it: "What?"

The seagull said something, and Nico went completely pale. The seagull then flew away, but Nico stayed standing in the same position, his eyes wide, staring off into the distance.

Pedro stood up and slowly approached Nico, the others following him.

"Nico? You okay?" asked Pedro once he had reached his friend.

Nico's mouth moved as if he were trying to say something. Suddenly, he collapsed onto his knees in the sand, the look of shock frozen on his face.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Pedro, grabbing Nico's shoulder to prevent him from face-planting in the sand. Pedro and Rafael lifted Nico and carried him over to a nearby table. They went under it and leaned him against the leg of the table.

Nico's eyes were still wide open. Pedro waved his hand in front of Nico's face, but got no response.

"Hello? Anybody there?" asked Pedro.

"Oh! I got it!" exclaimed Blu. He flew off towards Linda.

Pedro looked up at Rafael. "Any idea?"

"I think he's in shock," said Rafael. "Y'know, the lights are on but nobody's home."

"I've never heard that phrase before in my life."

"Got it!" exclaimed Blu as he flew towards them, carrying a small cup of water.

"Well, that'll do it!" said Pedro. He took the cup from Blu and dumped the whole thing on Nico's head.

Nico gasped and sat bolt upright. "What in the name of samba was _that_ for?" he yelped.

"Man, you totally checked out!" exclaimed Pedro. "What did that seagull say to you?"

Nico paled as he remembered. He gulped and started staring off into the distance again. "He... told me... my twin brother is coming..."

_A/N: Holy cheese, this chapter was choppier than the ocean during a hurricane! I am so sorry! T-T I had massive writer's block and I just couldn't get ANYTHING to work for me! Remember, flames will be used for roasting marshmallows! I'm so scared that this might not be as good as Bottled Up or Deadly Secrets, so please bear with me. I promise it gets better once Nico's twin gets here in the next chapter!_

_Okay, so I'm planning on making Nico and Pedro do a song in one of the later chapter. Any suggestions? Please? And I am still so sorry that this chapter is awful! I'm sure some of you have written a chapter with a massive case of writer's block! You know what I'm going through here! Please review... If I get positive reviews, then and only then will I do my happy dance! T-T Have mercy!_


	2. Rico

_A/N: Okay, thanks for all the helpful happy reviews everyone! Gosh, this is so hard writing a follow-up for Bottled Up. I have to take extra time to make sure it's as good as it can be to be equal with it's prequel! (say that out loud. It's fun!) I promise the chapters will get longer! Starting now!_

**Seeing Double**

"You have a twin?" gasped Pedro, staring at Nico. "How come you never told me?"

"'Cause I didn't _want_ you guys to know!" exclaimed Nico. He was still sitting in the sand, curled up in a little ball and rocking back and forth. "This is great. Just _great_."

He suddenly stood up. "I gotta leave the country... See ya in Chile!"

Before anyone could stop him, Nico darted into the air, almost running smack into the bottom of the table. He dodged it and took off with Pedro and Rafael close behind him.

Nico made a beeline for the jungle. He crashed through trees, trying to lose the others in his panic. Suddenly, he ran smack into Rafael, who had somehow managed to get in front of him.

Nico bounced harmlessly off and ran right into Pedro. They had him cornered.

"Start talkin'!" said Pedro.

"Can we sit down?" asked Nico, panting from his mad dash, his bottle cap askew.

"Good idea," gasped Rafael, also winded from catching up to and being hit by the rocket of a canary.

They fluttered over to a nearby branch. "Okay, _now_ start talkin'!"

"What is there to talk about?" asked Nico. "I have a twin brother named Rico. He looks exactly like me, except he doesn't wear a bottle cap, he sounds kinda different, and he's right handed. T-that's it."

"Then why were you so freaked out?" asked Rafael.

"I-I wasn't freaked out."

"You said you needed to leave the country," said Pedro.

"D-did I say that?"

"Yes."

Nico laughed nervously. "I-I r-really d-d-don't know w-why..."

"LIAR!" shouted Pedro.

"Hey!" exclaimed Nico. "You didn't even let me finish my lie!"

"Yeah, but you stutter when you lie."

"N-no I don't!"

"Seriously man, _what_ is going' on?"

Nico looked to Rafael for help, but Rafael crossed his arms and gave Nico the 'start talking' look.

"Okay, so... Rico heard about me being... y'know... kidnapped... and he's coming to make sure I'm okay."

Pedro and Rafael just stared at him for a minute.

"And that's bad _because?_" asked Pedro.

"'Cause I haven't seen him in 4 years! And I... I g-guess it's gonna be awkward and... and..." Nico sat down and put his head in his hands. "I don't know. I'm so confused."

"Hey, it's okay to be confused," said Rafael, putting his wing around Nico's shoulder. "Just look at Pedro!"

"Yeah, just look at- HEY!" exclaimed Pedro.

Nico smiled a bit and stood up. He turned to Pedro. "We should probably get home. The hollow's a mess."

"Yeah..." said Pedro, smiling and looking off into the distance.

Rafael looked at Nico. He just shrugged.

"Okay, boys, let's go," said Rafael. "I'll help you guys clean up."

"Yes," whispered Pedro.

"Hey," said Nico, looking around. "Where did Blu go?"

"He's still at the beach," said Rafael, taking off.

"Being a lazy bum," Pedro whispered to Nico. They both took off and flew after Rafael.

As they flew towards their hollow, Nico started lagging behind. He really was worried about his brother coming. How was he going to react to what happened? Would he be angry about the whole thing, or would he be relieved that Nico was still alive? What would he say about Nico's bad wing, which was actually starting to hurt again. Or what if he...

Nico's eyes widened. _No. I'd never let that happen._

"Nico, look out!" shouted Pedro.

Nico had been so distracted that he hadn't been looking where he was flying. He looked up in time to see the branch coming right at his face.

_THWAP!_

Nico saw stars, but he managed to stay airborne.

"Nico, are you okay?" asked Rafael.

"Ugh..." moaned Nico. He fluttered up to the branch that he had flown into and grabbed his head, trying to calm the headache. Suddenly, his eyes shot open. "WHERE'S MY BOTTLE CAP?"

Without waiting for an answer, Nico flung himself off the branch and down to the ground, disappearing into the bushes to search for the missing bottle cap.

Pedro and Rafael landed on the same branch that had knocked Nico's bottle cap off.

"Did you see where it landed?" asked Rafael.

"Right about where Nico is. I bet he's got some kinda mental bond with that thing," said Pedro.

"More like a tracking device," said a voice from behind them. They both turned around to see Nico standing there, holding his bottle cap in his hand, slightly behind his back and out of view.

"That was fast," said Rafael.

"Yeah, we didn't even see you come back up!" said Pedro.

"That's 'cause I'm a ninja," he said, shrugging.

"No way man, Ralfy is a ninja! Haven't you seen how he deals with his kids?"

"'Course," said the canary, shrugging.

"Okay, let's get going," said Rafael.

"We can't go yet!" exclaimed Nico.

"What? Why not?" asked Pedro.

"I think we're forgetting something..."

"What are we forgetting?"

"Something important."

"Yeah, but what?"

"Something."

"_What_ something?"

"Something really important."

"WHAT? WHAT IS IT?"

"I forget."

"WHAT!"

"Wait a second... oh, I had it and I lost it."

"Oh, you've lost it alright." Pedro narrowed his eyes. "How hard did you hit your head?"

"Apparently not hard enough!" came a voice from behind them. Pedro and Rafael whipped around again to find... _Nico_!

"Wha... you _are_ a ninja!" exclaimed Pedro. He turned around and looked at the other canary, and then back. "Wait..."

The second Nico looked cheesed off at the first. He put his bottle cap on his head and angled it down like he was going to battle. He stormed towards the other Nico, stopped in front of him, and held his hands up like he was going to strangle him.

"GAH!" shouted Nico. "STOP DOING THAT TO MY FRIENDS!" He face-palmed himself. "I'm gonna explode..."

"What is goin' on?" demanded Pedro.

Nico looked up at Pedro, looking tired. "Pedro, Ralfy, this is my twin brother Rico. Rico, this is Pedro and Rafael."

"_This_ is your twin brother?" gasped Rafael.

"Can't you tell?" asked both Nico and Rico at the same time.

"I thought you said your brother sounded different than you," said Pedro.

"I do," said Rico. His normal voice was actually a little tiny bit higher pitch than Nico's, but unless you had known Nico for a long time, then you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. "I just know how to imitate his voice," he said, this time in Nico's voice. It was creepy how similar they were.

"And that's one of the reasons I wear this," said Nico, pointing to his bottle cap. "And _he_ wears that." He pointed to Rico, who held up a dark green _plastic_ bottle cap, the one he had been hiding behind his back.

"But I don't wear mine all the time, so..." Rico pointed to the feathers on top of his head, and instead of lying flat like Nico's, they stood pretty much straight up.

"Nico, take off your bottle cap," said Rafael. Nico looked kinda confused, but he complied.

"Wow," muttered Pedro. He looked back and forth. "You guys look exactly the same!"

"Well, not _exactly_," said Rico. It was true; when they were standing side by side, you could see that Rico was slightly taller and a bit thicker than Nico, but not enough to be noticeable unless they were standing side-by-side.

"Yeah, he doesn't have a... how did you get that scar?" asked Nico, putting his bottle cap back on.

"This?" asked Rico, pointing to the scar on his chest, in the _exact_ same place as Nico's scar.

"Yes, that. The one that looks exactly like mine," deadpanned Nico.

"About four months ago, I got attacked by a cat. I got away before it did any real damage, but I still got a scar," said Rico. "How did you get yours?"

"You mean you don't know?" gasped Nico, faking surprise.

"Hey, all I heard was that you got kidnapped by monkeys," said Rico, holding his hands up.

"About two weeks before I got kidnapped. I got stabbed by the same monkey."

Rico's eyes widened. "What?" he exclaimed.

"It's a long story," said Nico, absentmindedly rubbing his sore right wing.

Pedro noticed this and said, "Alright, let's go! We can talk when we get home."

"Good idea," muttered Nico.

They took off towards the hollow, going slower this time. Nico would occasionally glance over at Rico, who had yet to close his mouth or his eyes as he took in the beauty of the jungle.

"Holy crap," he muttered at one point, looking off into the distance.

"What?" asked Nico, flying at half speed.

"There's a waterfall over there," whispered Rico, entranced.

Nico screeched to a stop in midair and looked over to where Rico was looking. The second he laid eyes on Eternity Falls, his vision went black.

He was no longer hovering in midair on a clear sunny afternoon next to his twin brother; he was running for his life on a cold rainy night, unable to fly with his shredded and bloody wings. He was being chased by a deranged glass-wielding marmoset with a thirst for revenge. He was trapped by the waterfall, with no way across. Just as Maurice brought the glass dagger down on him, he heard his name being called.

"Nico? Hey, Nico. Earth to Nico!"

Nico shook his head to clear the vision from his mind. He focused back on reality and saw Pedro hovering in front of him, waving his hand in front of his face.

"Hey man, you okay?" asked Pedro.

"Y-yeah..." muttered Nico. "Just... checked out for a second."

Pedro looked kinda suspicious, but Nico flew up in the air and joined Rico and Rafael, who had been hovering there, waiting for them.

As they all started flying again, Nico turned to Rico.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You looked at the waterfall and you got all pale and just... froze! I swear, it was pretty freaky," said Rico. "Now you tell _me_ what happened?"

"We'll explain it later," said Nico. Rico looked at him for a minute before shrugging it off and going back to gaping at the jungle.

"Psh, tourists," muttered Pedro.

After a few more minutes, they _finally_ came to Nico and Pedro's hollow.

"Welcome to la Casa de Nico y Pedro," said Nico, gesturing to the entire hollow as they stepped inside.

"Sorry 'bout the mess," said Pedro, kicking aside a few muffin crumbs.

"Whoa," muttered Rico. "This place is so cool!" He turned to Pedro. "How'd ya manage to nab a muffin?"

"Mad skill," said Pedro, stretching his wings and throwing fake punches.

"Yeah, well-" Nico stopped short as one of the crumbs on the floor rolled over on it's own, and a tiny common spider crawled out from under it.

"**AAAHHHHH!**" Nico screamed, jumping a foot in the air. He quickly hid behind Pedro, who had also started cautiously backing away from the spider, his eyes wide and his toes curled up.

"C'mon, guys," moaned Rafael. He walked forward and squished the spider under his foot. "You two should have gotten over that a while ago."

"Hey, you try waking up with a giant hairy spider right in your face!" exclaimed Pedro, holding his hand a centimeter in front of his face and going cross-eyed for effect. Nico just whimpered.

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Rico.

"A-a-another s-story t-that would be too l-l-long and p-painful to tell," stammered Nico, only his wide eyes and bottle cap visible from behind Pedro's shoulder.

Rico looked at Rafael.

"They've both got arachnophobia," he said.

"Fear of spiders?" confirmed Rico. Rafael nodded.

"Hey," said Pedro, "I'm almost over mine."

Everyone looked at Nico. He was still trembling as he shook his head, no. "I h-h-had a s-s-staring c-contest with that s-s-spider f-for like t-two m-minutes!" He shuddered and hid all the way.

Rico looked at Rafael again. "Will I ever get to hear that story?"

"They've sworn to never speak of it again," said Rafael. "Let's just say they had a bad run-in with a spider bigger than _you_."

"Hey, we're still standing right here man!" exclaimed Pedro.

Slowly, Nico emerged from behind Pedro. He shuddered. "Ugh, I _hate_ spiders!"

"Who doesn't?" muttered Pedro.

"So, I shouldn't ask about _that_ story?" asked Rico. Nico and Pedro shook their heads. "Well, could you tell me what happened with the monkeys?"

Nico and Pedro looked at each other, using some form of telepathy to communicate. After a minute, Nico shrugged and turned back to his brother. "Okay, but you might wanna sit down. We're gonna be here a while..."

**xxx**

"... and Pedro _still_ hasn't told me what happened while I was in a coma, but you still get the basic idea," said Nico. He was sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall, with Rico sitting right next to him.

"What happened when you woke up?" asked Rico, his eyes wide.

"Pedro was standing there next to a giant muffin," said Nico, gesturing to the wrapper on the floor.

Pedro, who was sitting on his bed across the hollow, looked up. "It was _huge_! Probably an inch tall!"

"Wow..." muttered Rico. "That _is_ huge!"

"Yeah, took us a few days to finish it," said Nico. "Anyways, that's all there is to the story. Today was the first day I've really actually flown after what happened."

"So that's why you checked out when you saw the waterfall..."

"Yep..."

All three of them yawned at the same time.

"That was cool," said Pedro, talking about the three-way yawn.

Nico looked out of the entrance to the hollow. The sun had already set and there was a crescent moon hanging low in the darkening sky. Rafael had gone home a few hours ago, and Nico was ready to pass out.

"Hey, where are you gonna sleep?" Pedro asked Rico.

"I was actually gonna stay with a friend in the city," said Rico, standing up.

"Alright," said Nico, closing his eyes and laying down. Across the hollow, Pedro was already snoring. "Watch out for monkeys."

"Don't worry, bro," said Rico. "See ya in the morning." He turned and flew out of the hollow, heading towards the distant lights of the city.

Nico watched him go for a minute. Then, he finally allowed his eyes to slide shut, and he fell asleep...

_A/N: Okay, I actually have a story planned out as for why Nico and Pedro are arachnophobic. I'll write that when I'm done with this one!_

_There were a few little rough patches here and there, but I think it's better than the last chapter. Tell me what you thought about EVERYTHING! I love long reviews! Oh, and tomorrow I'm going on a trip to Atlanta for a volleyball tournament, so I won't be able to update for a while. Sorry! But at least y'all get to read this! I'll still try and keep in touch, but I won't be able to update. Y'all have been warned!_

_Okay, bye! =D_


	3. The First Nightmare

_A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update. I've been taking an online summer class for school, and it's a pain in the $$! I mean... yeah... So anyways, enjoy this chapter... … …_

* * *

><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

_The skies were dark and cloudy. The wind was howling through the trees and the rain was pouring down in solid sheets of water. He couldn't see where he was going; all he knew was that he was in danger, and he had to keep flying. _

_The sky above darkened. All his feathers stood up on end. Suddenly, there was a bright light right in front of him, and the next thing he knew, he was lying on his back on the ground, dazed and confused._

_He slowly sat up and looked around. When he realized where he was, he gasped. He was standing on a very familiar ledge overlooking a massive waterfall: Eternity Falls._

_Suddenly, there was a scream from behind him. Whipping around, he didn't see anything. That was when the bushed started rustling, and out stumbled... himself._

_His other self was totally beaten up; he was limping, his feathers were crusted with blood, and he looked like he was being chased._

"_I am," gasped his other self as if he had read his mind._

_He took a hesitant step back, almost slipping off the ledge. His other self stood staring until the bushes behind him rustled. His other self darted forward and stood next to him, and they both looked nervously at the bushes._

_Suddenly, a dark creature burst through the bushes. It only had one eye, and it had broken shards of glass for hands. After a second, the veil of darkness fell away and the creature was revealed to be..._

"_Maurice..." they both whispered in fear._

_The undead mutated monkey snarled, showing razor sharp black teeth. He charged at them. They both screamed bloody murder, and Maurice's mutated hands sliced open his other self. With a scream, his other self fell to the ground. _

_However, as he watched in horror, his other self reached up as he fell and grabbed _his_ right wing. An electrifying pain shot through his body, starting at his right wing. He screamed and fell back, over the ledge. As he fell, it felt like a pair of hands grabbed him from behind, even though the only thing below him was water. Suddenly, everything turned white..._

* * *

><p>Nico gasped and sat bolt upright in his bed, shaking and covered in a cold sweat. A flash of pain shot through his right wing, bringing his foggy mind back to reality.<p>

"Calm down," whispered Nico to himself, resting his feverish head in his hands. "It was just a nightmare."

Nico looked to his right and found Pedro to still be asleep. He looked out of the entrance to the hollow. It was still nighttime.

Sighing, Nico shakily stood up and quietly, so as not to disturb Pedro, made his way to the entrance of the hollow. He sat down on the ledge and closed his eyes, leaning against the side of the entrance.

Blu and Rafael had warned him about the nightmares. They said it was called PTSD; post-traumatic stress disorder. This kind of thing happens after a traumatic event like being kidnapped, tortured, starved, and imprisoned. Some of the symptoms were nightmares and the sight of certain objects, like Eternity Falls, triggering flashbacks. The only cure was time.

Nico yawned and rubbed his sore wing. His body was _exhausted_, but his mind was too frazzled to even let him _think_ about sleep. This was really the second time Nico had ever had a really bad nightmare. He had basically been in a coma before and after his first bad nightmare, so he didn't exactly know how to deal with nightmares. He had no idea how to calm himself down enough to get back to sleep.

_Okay,_ he told himself, _just try thinking about something else. Something... happier._

It took Nico a minute to find something to think about to distract himself, but he eventually thought of the day after the day he woke up.

* * *

><p><em>It was early in the morning; just after sunrise. Nico woke up to find Pedro asleep on the floor next to his bed. Nico smiled a bit and slowly sat up in his bed. When he was in an upright position, he swung his legs around and gently placed his feet on the floor. He stood as carefully as he could, testing his legs. After all, it <em>had_ been about two weeks since he last walked._

_Nico took a shaky step towards the muffin in the center of the room. He was shocked that he didn't collapse right then and there. He made it to the muffin and grabbed on for support._

_Across the hollow, Pedro was still snoring soundly on the ground next to his bed. Nico smiled mischievously and broke off a piece of muffin. He then pegged the muffin chunk at Pedro. The piece of muffin hit Pedro right in the face._

_Pedro gasped and sat bolt upright, trying to get pieces of muffin out of his nose. Nico burst into laughter. His laughter was cut short by a blueberry splattering all over his face. Now it was Pedro's turn to start laughing._

_After Pedro stopped laughing and Nico wiped the blueberry out of his eyes, Pedro looked around._

"_Why am I on the floor?" he asked._

"_Because you lunged at your bed last night, missed, and knocked yourself out on the wall," said Nico._

"_That explains the headache," muttered Pedro, rubbing his forehead. He looked back up at Nico and realized something. "Hey, you're standin'!"_

"_I'm not standing, I'm just sitting really high," Nico deadpanned. _

"_Yeah, and I ain't a cardinal, I'm a-"_

"_You're awake!" exclaimed a voice from the entrance. Nico and Pedro whipped around and saw Rafael standing there, looking shocked._

"_Hey, Ralfy!" exclaimed Nico._

"_Nico, I thought you were dead!" exclaimed Rafael._

"_Almost," said Nico, shrugging._

_Rafael shook his head in amazement. "Wait 'til I tell Blu and Jewel," he said._

"_Can I come?" asked Nico._

"_And, there's your problem!" exclaimed Pedro, sitting up._

"_What are you talking about?" asked Nico, looking over at his best friend._

"_You can _never stay still_!" he exclaimed._

"_Well, I think I've had enough staying still for one lifetime," said Nico, narrowing his eyes. He turned back to Rafael. "Can I come? Pleeeeeease?"_

_Rafael looked to Pedro, who finally sighed and said, "Whatever..."_

"_Yes..." whispered Nico._

"_Are you sure you don't want me to bring Blu and Jewel here?" asked Rafael._

"_NO!" exclaimed Nico. "I _need_ to fly! I haven't flown in like a month! I don't know how Blu did it, but I know I can't!"_

"_Okay, calm down," chuckled Rafael. He walked over to the entrance of the hollow and stretched out his wing, allowing Nico to clamber onto his back._

"_I gotta see this," said Pedro, squeezing past Rafael and fluttering out of the hollow._

_Once Nico was properly situated, Rafael glided out of the hollow, soaring towards Blu and Jewel's tree._

_Nico closed his eyes, loving the feeling of the wind in his face. He had been deprived of flight for _way_ too long._

_After a minute, they arrived at the tree that housed the Macaw family. As quietly as he could, Rafael swooped into the hollow, stopping at the entrance. Nico slid off of Rafael's back, and Pedro arrived right next to him. Inside the hollow, both Blu and Jewel were facing the other way._

"_Can we come in?" asked Rafael._

_Startled, Blu and Jewel whipped around, breathing a sigh of relief when they saw it was Rafael. _

"_Yeah, sure," said Blu. "Don't sneak up on us like that!"_

"_So why are you-" Jewel started to ask. That was when she saw Nico. "Nico! You're alive!"_

"_Really? I had no idea!" said Nico sarcastically. _

"_Ha ha, very funny," said Jewel. "So when did you wake up?"_

"_Yesterday," said Nico._

"_Really?" asked Blu. "And you're already out flying?"_

"_Well, I didn't-" _

_Nico's answer was cut short by the three blue Macaw chicks, charging around the corner yelling: "UNCLE NICO! UNCLE NICO!"_

"_Whoa!" exclaimed Blu, stepping in front of his charging children. "Stop!" Blu was immediately tackled to the ground._

_The three chicks lunged at Nico. Nico calmly stepped to the side, and they flew right by him..._

_...and landed right on Pedro._

"_Hi Uncle Pedro!"_

_Pedro sat up and grabbed the kids as they got off him. They all started squealing playfully._

"_Now the Pedro Monster's got ya!" exclaimed Pedro. The chicks started laughing and trying to squirm out of Pedro's arms. When they managed to get loose a moment later, they fluttered over to Jewel, who started to take the kids back to the adjourning hollow that served as their room._

"_You three are supposed to still be asleep," she said, trying not to laugh. _

"_We heard you talking," said Rey._

"_Okay, well go back to bed. It's still really early," said Jewel. The kids giggled and scampered off into their rooms._

_Blu, who was still on the ground, moaned. "Why does this keep happening?"_

_Nico peeked his head out from behind Rafael. "Okay, I didn't count on that."_

"_What a way to start the morning," said Pedro, elbowing Nico on his good shoulder._

"_Actually, that's how all my mornings start," said Rafael. "A few pokes in the eye, a few missing feathers... that's all normal."_

"_Remind me never to sleep over at your place," said Pedro, shuddering._

"_Hey, it's not that bad..." said Rafael. However, after a minute's though, he said: "Actually... yes it is."_

_Shuffling was heard from the kid's room as they started to stir again._

_Nico cleared his throat. "Uh, I think we better go."_

_Jewel laughed a bit. "Okay, thanks for coming by. It's good to know you're okay."_

_Nico smiled. "Thanks..." He turned and clambered back up onto Rafael's back._

"_Y'know if the kids get to be too much for you, you can always let them have a play-date with my kids," said Rafael. "That'll wear them out."_

"_We'll look into it," said Jewel._

_Rafael turned and glided out of the hollow, with Pedro right behind._

_A few minutes later, they arrived at Nico and Pedro's hollow._

"_Well that was fun," said Pedro sarcastically._

"_Are you two gonna be okay?" asked Rafael._

"_Yeah, we're fine," said Nico, sitting on his bed._

"_Good. I gotta go home and make sure my kids get breakfast."_

"_What would happen if they _didn't_ get any food?" asked Pedro. "Would they eat each other?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Oh..."_

"_Good luck!" said Nico._

_Rafael grinned a bit before turning around and soaring out of the hollow towards his home._

_Nico turned to Pedro. "Maybe _you_ should have a play-date with Ralfy's kids. You need to burn off some of your energy."_

"_Ha, NO!" exclaimed Pedro. "I don't wanna be anywhere _near_ Juan!" As he said this, he rubbed a sore spot on his wings that used to have feathers until a few days ago._

"_And I'm sure Juan doesn't wanna be anywhere near you either," said Nico, lying down._

"_I bet Juan could take down Nigel," said Pedro, taking a chunk out of the muffin._

"_Are you kidding? Nigel wouldn't stand a chance!" exclaimed Nico, yawning._

_Pedro sat on his bed, yawning too. "I bet it would take 30 seconds for Juan to win in that fight."_

"_I'd bet 20. Didn't you see how fast he took down Blu?"_

"_Yeah, you're right," mumbled Pedro._

"_Let's never wake up early again," mumbled Nico, falling asleep._

"_Amen, brother," muttered Pedro, falling asleep too. The piece of muffin still in his hand fell to the floor._

* * *

><p>"Nico?" came a voice from behind him.<p>

Nico opened his eyes and slowly turned to look behind him. He saw Pedro standing over him.

"Hm?"

"You okay?" he asked.

"Fine," muttered Nico, standing up. "Just a nightmare."

"Is this your first one?" asked Pedro.

Nico turned around. "What do you mean?"

"Did you just start havin' nightmares or have you been havin' nightmares for a while?"

"Uh... I guess this was my first one," said Nico, flopping down on his bed. "Why?"

"'Cause I wanna warn ya. They're probably gonna get worse."

Nico opened his eyes and sat up. "How do you know?"

Pedro flopped down on his bed. "How well do ya think I was sleepin' when you were in a coma?"

Nico slowly laid back down. "Didn't really think about that..."

"Hey, it's no problem," said Pedro, yawning. "Nightmares don't affect me 'cause I know they're fake."

"Yeah..." muttered Nico. A few minutes later, he heard Pedro start snoring.

Settling down, Nico closed his eyes, trying to stay in the memory mindset instead of the nightmare mindset. It didn't really work.

After a few hours of lying sleepless, Nico finally slipped away into the bliss of sleep.

* * *

><p><em>AN: The reason it took me a while to get this up was because I got blocked about halfway through. Once again, I am SOOO sorry this is so short. I've had a busy week... ugh..._

_Okay, just thought I'd say this: in the movie, they never said the name of Rafael's son that eats peoples feathers. So I just started calling him Juan. And now it's a trend! =D_

_Here's the question of the chapter: Who would win in a fight: Juan or Maurice?_

_The reason Blu and Rafael know about PTSD is because Blu's a nerd and Rafael has an extensive knowledge of horror movies. Also, the reason I didn't elaborate on the day after Nico woke up in the first chapter was because I didn't want to stray too much from the plot line. Thank you for your patience... ...Anyone gonna be watching Shark Week? God, I'm so random tonight. I'll just shut up now. REVIEW!_


	4. Tour de Rio

_A/N: YAY! I finally finished with my online summer class, so now I can write write WRITE! However, I believe this chapter would be classified as a filler chapter... Hm... Ah well, let's see where it takes us! Oh, and I know that I called the club Nico and Pedro go to "The Alley," but I talked to KhallieGurl and she said it was okay if I changed it to the Branch. So take that. One more thing: I'm sorry this took so long to write, but I have a good excuse! I had a bit of writer's block at some points, but whenever I'd get any inspiration, I'd type for about five seconds and then BOOM! A thunderstorm would hit and force me off of the computer... Grr... Anyways, sorry for rambling. On with the story!_

* * *

><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

When Nico woke up that morning, he was curled up in a ball at the foot of his bed. His twin brother was staring down at him.

"Gah!" gasped Nico, sitting bolt upright at the utter shock of seeing his double standing right in front of him.

"Well good morning to you too," said Rico sarcastically.

Nico moaned and stood up, rubbing his stiff back. He had to bend his body in about five different directions before his spine finally made a cracking noise and the stiffness went away.

"Rough night last night?" asked Rico, smiling.

"Yeah, a bit," admitted Nico, readjusting his bottle cap. "How'd ya sleep?"

"Fine," said Rico.

Nico was about to say something, but he was interrupted by a loud snore. He looked across the hollow to Pedro's bed, where his best friend was still sleeping, even though it was getting close to noon.

Pedro was actually pretty funny. He was lying face-down, snoring, and occasionally his foot would start twitching.

"I tried waking him up," said Rico.

"How hard did you try?" asked Nico. "Pedro sleeps like a rock. _This_ is how to wake him up."

Nico slowly crept towards his best friend, who might as well have been comatose. He grabbed Pedro's shoulder; the one farthest away from him. Planting his feet firmly on the ground, Nico pulled Pedro towards him, successfully rolling him off the bed. However, Nico couldn't jump out of the way in time, and Pedro landed right on top of him! Nico found himself pinned face-down on the ground under Pedro.

"Gah! Pedro! Wake up man!" gasped Nico, trying to squirm his way out. Pedro continued snoring until Nico forcefully elbowed him in the ribs, waking him up.

As soon as Pedro sat up, Nico gasped for breath, trying to refill his flattened lungs with oxygen.

"So that's how you wake each other up in the morning?" asked Rico, who had sat by and watched the entire thing.

"Well, I usually just hit him with a stick," said Nico, standing up.

"That's why I killed the stick," said Pedro, rubbing his eyes clear or the residue that sleep leaves behind. "I set it on fire and threw it in the lake."

"So call Pedro whenever you have a stick problem. He'll take care of 'em," said Nico sarcastically.

Pedro yawned and stood up. "So... what's the plans for today?"

"I was hoping you guys could show me around," said Rico, gesturing to the entrance to the hollow, which Nico moved towards. He stuck his head out of the entrance and looked around.

"Sure, why not?" said Pedro, shrugging.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Nico, backing away from the entrance to the hollow. "It's HOT out there!"

"Really?" Pedro walked over and stuck his face out the entrance, only to whip himself back in, gasping for breath. "Dude! That's crazy!"

"Well, it is the middle of August," said Rico.

"We could go swimming later," joked Nico.

"No," deadpanned Pedro.

"Why not?" asked Rico.

"Just because," said Pedro, daring a glance out the entrance again before quickly retreating.

Rico turned to Nico. "So about that tour...?"

Nico sighed. He turned to Pedro. "Let's just jump in the lake real quick and then go."

Pedro sighed. "Fine..." He slowly walked towards the entrance and stood at the edge. He stood there for a minute, looking down at the water below.

Nico sighed and knew that this could take a while. He walked up behind Pedro and, with a forceful kick to the backside, sent him tumbling out of the hollow and into he lake below. Nico and Rico shortly followed, splashing down in the cool water. When they all resurfaced, they swam to shore.

"Feel better?" Nico asked Pedro, shaking the water off of his bottle cap before placing it back on his head.

"I feel wet," muttered Pedro. He rapidly shook like a dog, spraying water everywhere. Once he stopped shaking, all of his feathers puffed up.

"You look like Luiz after he takes a bath!" exclaimed Nico.

"Who's Luiz?" asked Rico, coming up behind Nico.

"He's-" Pedro never got a chance to finish that sentence, because at that moment he was tackled from behind by the Macaw chicks.

"Hi Uncle Pedro," they chorused as they made themselves comfortable, sitting on his back. Pedro's response was muted by the sand his face was buried in.

"Not so fun now, is it?" muttered Nico. He thought he heard Pedro growl.

Nico quickly turned to Rico. "Take off your bottle cap," he said, removing his bottle cap and hiding it behind his back. Rico did the same with his dark green plastic bottle cap.

The kids hopped off of Pedro and charged for Nico... but they stopped when they saw two canaries standing in front of them. Without their bottle caps on, it was impossible for the kids to tell who was who.

Abelina turned around. "Mama! There are two Uncle Nico's!" she shouted.

At this point, Jewel and Blu rounded the corner.

"You weren't kidding!" exclaimed Blu. "You really _do_ have a twin!"

Pedro sat up and spit the sand out of his mouth. "Yeah, _lucky_ him..."

"Guys, this is Rico," said Nico, putting his bottle cap back on and gesturing to his brother. "Rico, this is Blu, Jewel, and their kids, Javier, Abelina, and Rey," he said, gesturing to each respective Macaw.

"Nice to meet you," said Jewel, nodding her head.

"So... where are you guys heading?" asked Blu.

"We gonna give Mr. Looks-Alike here a tour," said Pedro, standing up and wiping the sand out of his feathers.

"And, knowing Pedro, we'll probably start at the beach," said Nico with a wink.

At the word _beach_, the three Macaw chicks turned on their parents. "Can we go to the beach?" "Beach! Beach! Beach!" "Please Mama, PLEASE?"

"Ask your father," said Jewel, smiling.

The three chicks turned on Blu. "Please, Papa, PLEASE?"

"Hm..." muttered Blu, pretending to think. "Well, I don't know..."

"PAPA!"

Blu cracked a smile and scooped all three of his children into a hug. "Alright, we can go." He was met with a large cheer from the children. "Who has the best Papa ever?"

"We do," chorused the children, hugging their father.

"Awww," chorused everyone else who had been watching.

"A'ight, birds, lets go!" exclaimed Pedro with a renewed energy that only the promise of the beach can bring. He jumped into the air and eagerly flew off, leading the way to the beach.

* * *

><p>"Whoa," muttered Rico as they flew over the pristine beaches. "I flew over it yesterday, but I was too busy lookin' for y'all to really admire it..."<p>

"Yep. Just take it all in," said Nico.

"Not much to see, though," muttered Blu.

"Tourist season," said Pedro.

"Mama, I wanna swim!" exclaimed Javier.

"You can swim when we find somewhere that isn't that crowded," said Jewel, scanning the ground for a spot to land.

After flying down the beach for a little while, they finally found a nice clear patch of sand without any tourists nearby. Abelina and Javier dashed into the surf, followed by Blu, while Rey stayed on the beach and played in the sand next to his mother.

Rico landed on the sand next to the water line. Nico and Pedro still hovered above him, just out over the water.

"Ready?" asked Pedro.

"Oh yeah," smiled Nico. He then took off his bottle cap, clutched it to his chest, and curled up in a ball. He plummeted downwards and performed a perfect Cannonball. However, his Cannonball didn't provide much of a splash, due mainly to his lack of size and weight.

When he resurfaced, he swam towards shore. That was when Pedro performed _his_ Cannonball.

_SPLASH!_

The wave Pedro created knocked Nico forward in the water, and it soaked Rico, Jewel, and Rey. When Pedro resurfaced, he was laughing so hard that he was having a more difficult time than usual staying afloat!

"Uncle Pedro, you almost ruined my sand castle!" exclaimed Rey, gesturing to the semi-wet pile of sand in front of him.

Pedro pulled himself out of the water and up onto the beach. "But I _didn't_," he told Rey. "And THAT'S the important thing."

Rey's brown eyes widened and he nodded his head vigorously at this valuable life lesson.

Nico trudged up onto the beach and flopped down on the sand, soaking up it's heat. Next to him, Rico was shaking water off of his plastic bottle cap.

"So, here's the beach," said Nico, laying his bottle cap over his eyes and sprawling on the sand. "What do ya think?"

"I think Pedro looks very happy playing in the sand," said Rico as he watched Pedro aid Rey in the construction of a sand city. The task was made even more difficult by the fact that neither of them have hands...

Nico lifted his bottle cap in time to see the sand city come crashing down. Pedro stood up, clutched his chest, said something dramatic that they were too far away to hear, and pretended to faint.

After laughing and dubbing Pedro a drama queen, Nico glanced around to see what everyone else was doing. Rey was trying to "wake up" Pedro, Jewel was sunning herself, and Blu, Abelina, and Javier were still out in the water splashing around. Rico looked to be enjoying himself. Everything seemed peaceful until...

Nico sat up and placed his bottle cap back on his head. Looking past Rico and down the beach, he saw a whole flock of seagulls slowly advancing towards them, their whispering carried on the wind and their pointing fingers aimed right at Nico.

"What's wrong?" asked Rico, seeing the sudden look of distress appear on his brother's face.

"We gotta go..." said Nico, standing up. He quickly made his way over to Pedro, who Rey was burying in the sand. "Pedro."

"What?" asked Pedro, looking up at his friend. Nico pointed behind him at the flock of seagulls, steadily advancing.

"We should go..." muttered Nico.

With a sigh, Pedro sat up, brushing all the sand off of him.

"Aww," moaned Rey.

"Don't worry, ya can bury Blu," said Pedro, giving Rey a pat on the head. Little Rey brightened up at the thought of burying his father.

Nico quickly fluttered over to Jewel. "Hey Jewel, me and Pedro gotta get goin'."

Jewel opened her eyes and looked down at Nico. "Alright, thanks," she said. That was when she looked down to find her feet being buried by Rey. "Rey, why don't you go play in the water for a while."

"Oh, okay," said Rey, fluttering out to his father and siblings.

Nico fluttered back over to Pedro and Rico. "Okay, let's go. They won't follow us if we leave the beach."

"Aww, but I like the beach," muttered Pedro.

"Well, let's show Rico the city," suggested Nico.

"Ooh! Can we show him the Branch?" asked Pedro, his face lighting up.

Nico quickly glanced at the seagulls, who were coming closer and closer by the second. "Yeah, sure, let's _go_!" He quickly took off into the air with Pedro and Rico right behind him. As they flew away, Nico glanced back to make sure the seagulls weren't following them. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw them still sitting on the sand, watching up after them.

"What was that all about?" asked Rico.

"Nothing," muttered Nico. "Just... nothing..."

Suddenly, Pedro's stomach growled so loud that the twins were able to hear it.

"Hey, can we stop and get some food first?" Pedro called up to them.

"I don't see why not," said Nico. He turned to his brother and smiled. "What else are tourists for?"

* * *

><p>Nico, Pedro, and Rico sat atop the roof of a small restaurant, looking out over the beach and chowing down a box of French Fries that they had gotten from a distracted tourist. Well, Rico did the distracting while Nico and Pedro had swiped the fry box.<p>

"We're no better than the monkeys," laughed Pedro, his mouth full of fries.

"We steal food. Not phones," said Nico, laying back on the roof tiles and soaking up the sun's rays.

"Yrph grhs kemp thalkhin' 'bout-"

"Dude, swallow your fries first," said Nico to his brother, who had been attempting to talk around his mouth full of fries.

Rico swallowed the handfuls of fries in his mouth and continued talking. "You guys keep talking about monkeys, but I haven't seen any yet."

"Then turn around," came a voice from behind them. The three birds whipped around to find a marmoset sitting calmly behind them. But this monkey looked familiar...

"Roberto?" exclaimed Nico.

"Glad to see you still remember me," said Roberto, smiling.

"No way I'd ever forget," muttered Nico.

"How's Nigel doing," asked Pedro, laughing.

"Oh, he's dead," said Roberto in a very nonchalant manner.

"What?" exclaimed Nico and Pedro.

"I'm just kidding," said Roberto, laughing. "He's moody like always." After that, he suddenly got distracted by something on the ground below and he leaned over the edge of the roof.

"Who's Nigel?" asked Rico.

"Some crazy cockatoo that almost killed us at least once," said Nico. "He almost cut me in half and he almost broke Pedro's neck."

Rico's eyes widened and he prepared a slew of questions, but Nico and Pedro cut him off.

"He almost broke my neck when I was trying to ambush the monkey camp," said Pedro. "When Nico was missin'."

"He almost cut me in half after trying to trap Pedro and me and some of Pedro's family in a net. We got out, attacked him, and he almost cut me in half."

"My cousins pooped on him!" exclaimed Pedro.

"So _that's_ what he's been complaining about for the last three months," said Roberto, sitting back up, laughing.

"Hey, your eye's better!" exclaimed Pedro, pointing to Roberto's no-long-black eye.

"Yeah, thanks for noticing," said Roberto sarcastically, seeing as it was Pedro who had given him a black eye. That was when Roberto saw Rico. He quickly looked back and forth between the two canaries, not believing his eyes. "Uh, Pedro, I think you may have given me some brain damage with that punch. I think I'm seeing double!"

"Nah, your brain ain't any more messed up than it already was," said Pedro.

"This is Rico. We're twins," muttered Nico, suddenly finding his feet the most interesting things in the world.

"I didn't know you had a twin!" exclaimed Roberto.

"Really?" asked Rico, looking at Nico. "You never told anyone about me?"

"It never r-really came up," he muttered.

"So!" exclaimed Pedro, immediately trying to change the subject. "Roberto, what're ya doin' in town?"

"Scouting out tourists for Mauro," said Roberto, crawling back to the edge of the roof and looking down at the many sunburned tourists again. After a minute, he backed away from the edge and sat down next to Pedro. That was when Nico realized something: sitting down, Roberto was the same height as Pedro!

_Wow,_ thought Nico. _Guess I never realized how small those guys actually are..._

Pedro grabbed a couple fries and offered them up to Roberto. He gratefully took them.

"So, what are you guys doing?" asked Roberto, stuffing the fries into his mouth.

"Givin' him a tour," said Pedro, pointing to Rico.

Roberto glanced up at the sky. "Gettin' kinda late, isn't it?"

"Well, we started at noon," admitted Nico.

"It ain't _that_ late!" exclaimed Pedro. "It's only like... four..."

"It really took us _that long_ to find a tourist with a box of fries?" Nico asked no one.

Roberto laughed and looked around. "Hey guys, I gotta go."

"See ya later," said Pedro.

"Bye," said Nico with a wave.

Roberto turned to hop off of the roof, but after a second though, he turned and faced Rico. "Hey kid, watch out for the other monkeys. They're not as nice as I am..." With that, he disappeared.

"O-kay..." muttered Rico, his eyes darting back and forth as he sat back down and grabbed more fries.

"Hey Nico, are ya gonna eat that?" asked Pedro, pointing to a large fry in Nico's hand that he hadn't so much as nibbled on yet.

"Nah, I'm not hungry," said Nico, tossing his fry to Pedro.

Pedro eyed him suspiciously for a moment before devouring the fry.

Rico paused his fry consumption for a moment to look at his brother. Nico had a strange, distant look on his face as he stared out at the ocean, which was clearly visible from the roof of the little beach side restaurant.

"Hey," said Rico. Nico barely acknowledged him. "You okay?"

"Fine," muttered Nico. "Just... got a lot on my mind, I guess."

"I know what ya need!" exclaimed Pedro.

Nico turned around to face his best friend. "Yeah, and what's that?"

"The cure for everything: samba!"

A large grin spread across Nico's face, yet his eyes were still slightly unfocused. "Time to hit the Branch?"

"Oh yeah."

"The what?" asked Rico.

"We'll show ya," said Pedro. He stood up and looked down to brush the fry crumbs off of him, but he suddenly yelped.

Nico and Rico jumped to their feet. "Pedro, what is it?" asked Nico. "What's wrong."

"N..n...nothing's wrong," gasped Pedro, still looking down.

"Then what is it?" asked Nico.

"I..." Pedro looked up at Nico, a giant grip splitting across his face. "I can see my toes!"

Nico's eyes widened and he took a couple steps back, taking in Pedro's complete appearance. To his surprise, he saw that Pedro _was_ thinner! Of course, he wasn't the thinnest bird in the world, but there was still a big difference.

"Dude!" exclaimed Nico. "Looks like you dropped a couple ounces. When did that happen?"

"Uh, probably during those three weeks of eatin' nothin' but stress," said Pedro.

Nico shrugged. "Well, it worked. Now c'mon! Let's go!"

"TIME TO PARTY!" shouted Pedro, jumping in the air and flying off towards the Branch, with Nico and Rico close behind.

* * *

><p>"It's been way too long," muttered Nico as he walked into the Branch. The last time he had been here was the night he got kidnapped, yet nothing had changed. Birds were still dancing, music was still playing, and the mood was still sky high.<p>

"I'll say!" exclaimed Pedro, soaking in the party atmosphere. "I was sufferin' from party withdrawal!"

"This place is awesome!" exclaimed Rico, his eyes as wide as they could physically get.

Some of the birds near the entrance turned around and immediately recognized Nico and Pedro, and before they knew it, the word had circled through the entire club that the Kings of Samba had returned! Before they even knew it, Nico and Pedro had a crowd. They were getting high-fives left and right, and poor Rico tried to stay as close to his brother as possible to avoid getting left behind.

"Excuse me, coming through!" came a voice from the crowd. A Scarlet Macaw finally managed to shove his way through the crowd and get to Nico and Pedro. "How's it goin' guys?"

"Goin' good, Ernie!" exclaimed Pedro, giving the macaw a high-five.

"So who's this," asked the Macaw, gesturing to Rico.

"Ernie, this is my twin brother Rico," said Nico. "Rico, this is Ernesto. He owns the club."

"So, you guys gonna perform tonight?" asked Ernesto.

Pedro looked over to Nico, who was deep in thought.

After a few minutes, Nico said, "Y'know what, not tonight. But we'll give a demo tomorrow night!"

"A demo?" asked Ernesto. "Really?"

"Yeah, while we get one of our new songs worked out," said Nico. "We'll perform the new ones in two days. Sound good?"

Ernesto thought it through for a minute. Finally, he said, "Alright, but only 'cause it's you two. What song are ya gonna do tomorrow?"

Nico and Pedro glanced at each other, practically using telepathy to decide on what song. After a minute, they both reached a silent agreement.

"We're gonna do the one we did last time," said Pedro.

Ernesto's eyes widened. "I wasn't there for that one! But I heard it was awesome."

"Don't worry, we promise a full dose of awesomeness," said Nico.

A new song started playing and Pedro's eyes widened. "Oh I love this song!" he exclaimed, looking towards the dance floor eagerly.

"Go for it," said Nico, gesturing to the dance floor.

Pedro nodded and dashed off, practically shoving other birds out of his path. "Out of the way!" he called. "Big P comin' through!"

The second Pedro was out of sight, Nico burst into laughter.

"What?" asked Ernesto and Rico at the same time.

"He just called himself _Big P_!" exclaimed Nico, laughing so hard his sides hurt and he started coughing.

Soon, the chants of "Go Pedro, go Pedro, go Pedro!" echoed from the dance floor, where Pedro was most likely performing physically impossible dance moves.

"Ernie, I gotta tell ya somethin'," Nico said suddenly, as if he had just remembered it.

"Come over here," said Ernesto, ushering Nico and Rico over near the edge of the dancing crowd. Once they were in a more quiet section of the club, Ernesto said, "Okay, what do ya wanna tell me?"

"Pedro and I found the perfect place a while ago," said Nico.

Ernesto's eyes widened. "You serious?" Nico smiled and nodded. "When Pedro's done dancing, ya gotta take me there!"

"Awesome," said Nico. "'Cause we were plannin' on headin' there after showin' Rico the Branch."

A few seconds later, the song ended and Pedro made his way back over to his friends. "So what next?" he panted.

"Ernie wants to see the Lagoon," said Nico.

"The what?" chorused Rico and Ernesto.

"Oh, you'll see," grinned Pedro. "Just follow me!" With that, he jumped into he air and flew over top of the crowd, soaring out of the Branch, followed by Nico, Rico, and Ernesto.

* * *

><p>"Seriously, how far did you say it was again?" asked Ernesto. "It's gonna get dark soon!"<p>

"Here it is!" Nico and Pedro exclaimed at the same time. They swooped down and landed on a small stretch of beach that was blocked off from the rest of the beach by various rocks and trees. It was only accessible by air.

"Guys, I didn't think you could do it, but I guess you proved me wrong again," said Ernesto, taking in the beach. "So... why do ya call it the Lagoon?"

"We were too lazy to think of a different name," said Nico.

"Wait, what is going on?" asked Rico.

"Well, a little while ago we had a little bit of an_ invasion _by some monkeys, so we're gonna move the club!" said Ernesto. "I sent Nico and Pedro here to go find a good place for the new club to be." He turned to Nico and Pedro. "I can't believe you guys actually did it!"

"Hey, don't doubt us!" said Pedro. He held out his right wing, and Nico slapped it with his left.

"Never did," said Ernesto. He glanced up at the sky. "Uh, it's getting dark. I better head back to the Branch. Don't wanna miss the party!" He turned and took to the air. "See ya tomorrow night!" he called back.

Rico turned to Nico and Pedro. "How did you guys find this place?" he asked.

"By accident," said Nico.

"We were runnin' from Juan," said Pedro.

"One of Ralfy's kids," clarified Nico. "He eats people's feathers."

"Yeah, so he was chasing us, and we were tryin' to get away, and we didn't notice him stop, so we kept flyin' and then BAM! We end up here!" said Pedro, using elaborate hand motions to tell his little story.

"Well there ya go," said Rico with a yawn.

"Yeah," muttered Nico, yawning. He looked up at the sky and saw it starting to get dark. If _he_ was starting to get tired, then his brother, who was at_ least_ two time zones ahead of them, should have been exhausted by now!

"You guys look tired," said the ever-observant Pedro.

"I'm exhausted," said Rico. Nico just shrugged tiredly.

"And that wraps up our tour," said Pedro, clapping his wings together. "Hope ya enjoyed, don't forget to tip your waiters, and goodnight from Rio de Janeiro!"

Pedro was met with blank stares.

"You people have no sense of humor..."

Half an hour later, Rico was somewhere over the city and Nico and Pedro were entering their hollow. Nico immediately collapsed face-down on his bed.

"Ugh, why am I so tired?" he mumbled.

"Probably 'cause you were up all night after that nightmare," said Pedro, leaning against the wall.

"Thanks for bringing that up," muttered Nico.

"Hey, don't worry 'bout it," said Pedro, sitting down on his own bed. "If I learned one thing, it's that you never have the same nightmare twice! And if you _do_ have the same one twice, then it'll probably be a bit different from the first one."

"Thank you for those words of encouragement," said Nico sarcastically, rolling over on his back.

Pedro shrugged. "It's my job." With that, he flipped face-down on his bed.

"I don't even know how you can sleep face-down," said Nico.

Pedro's eye opened a bit. "Why?"

"Well, y'know, after what happened with that Spindler Spider, I just figured-"

Pedro immediately cut him off by flipping over on his back, looking a little pale. "Thanks for reminding me of _that_!" he said, wrapping his wings around the back of his neck protectively. "Now _I'm_ gonna have nightmares!"

Nico smiled tiredly. "Now we're even..."

A few minutes later, Nico fell asleep. Pedro sat up and looked over at him. He looked to be sleeping peacefully, but Pedro couldn't be sure. He looked out of the entrance of the hollow; out at the night sky.

The sky was surprisingly clear for such a hot day. It usually stormed like crazy when it was this hot.

Pedro slowly laid back down. However, as he watched the sky, he saw a shooting star. Knowing Nico did this when he was trapped, he immediately closed his eyes and made a wish.

_Please don't let him have any more nightmares..._

A few minutes later, Pedro fell asleep, hoping, for Nico's sake, that his wish would come true.

It didn't...

* * *

><p><em>AN: Well, I'll stop ya there. Again, so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry it took me this long! (peeks out from under pillow fort) Please don't kill me!_

_Okay, if you wanna know what Nico and Pedro were talking about with that thing with Nigel and almost being cut in half and Pedro's cousins pooping on Nigel, check out this little one-shot I wrote called "Unwashable." Please? It needs some love (love meaning reviews)! Also, I did the math and found out that Roberto is 7 inches tall. And another thing: I figure since Rafael is the King of Carnivale (did I spell that right?), Nico and Pedro get to be the Kings of Samba!_

_Speaking of reviews... y'all know the drill! (Oh no, not the drill!) (and yes, I ALWAYS read ALL of the reviews!) (y'all are too awesome!) (love ya!)_


	5. The Second Nightmare

_A/N: Okay, so I better warn ya. This is another nightmare chapter that _just_ might bump the rating up to a T. So be warned. There is a torture scene. Reader discretion is advised... Plus, this chapter made me cry while I was writing it... On a lighter note, I may be off line for a while due to the hurricane bearing down on the east coast as we speak. Sorry. I can't control the weather. I'll just stop talking..._

* * *

><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

_Nico stumbled through the jungle. He was dizzy and disoriented and he had a massive headache. The last time his head had hurt _this_ bad was when he had dozed off in a tree and fell off of his perch, falling 10 feet to the ground, head first._

_After stumbling around for a while, confused and lost, he tripped and collapsed on his knees. He was so tired that he was about to fall asleep right then and there, but as he closed his eyes, he heard something..._

"_Nico..." cried a distant voice._

_Nico stood up and slowly started to walk in the general direction of the voice. It was hard to hear anything over the roar of the wind and the clapping of thunder from the gray skies above, but Nico once again heard the voice._

"_Nico, where are you!"_

_This time, the voice was loud enough for him to recognize. It was Pedro._

_Nico jumped in the air to fly to where he thought Pedro was, but he immediately fell right back down. He sat up and looked at his wings, horrified to find them covered in burns. The feathers on the end of his wings were especially black and charred. No wonder he wasn't able to fly._

_Suddenly, he heard Pedro again. "Nico!"_

_Nico took off at a full sprint and came around the corner, finally locating his friend. However, he was horrified to see where Pedro was._

_His best friend was currently pinned to the ground by a large branch. The end of the branch farthest away from Pedro just so happened to be on fire. The flame was slowly advancing towards Pedro._

_Nico sprinted across the clearing to Pedro. He grabbed his friend's wing and started trying to pull him out._

_Pedro winced and bit his tongue, trying not to scream. Finally, it was just too much._

"_Stop!" he exclaimed. Nico let go of his wing, but before he could ask what was wrong, he had to put out the fire. He quickly kicked dirt on the burning section of the branch, reducing it to dirt-covered embers. Nico turned back to Pedro._

"_What happened? Where are you hurt?" asked Nico frantically._

"_It fell," gasped Pedro, looking worn down and ready to pass out at any minute. "My leg... it's broken..."_

"_Let me see," said Nico, quickly going around to the other side of the branch. From here, he could see that Pedro's left ankle was swollen and twisted around in a way that limbs just shouldn't twist._

_Nico went back around to the front of the branch. "I-it doesn't look _that_ bad..."_

"_Nico... you suck at lying..."_

"_Whatever!" Nico exclaimed. "Just... don't worry buddy, I'm gonna get ya out of there."_

"_Just tell me one thing first," said Pedro. "What happened to _you_?"_

_Nico shrugged helplessly. "I don't know!" he exclaimed. "Just let me get ya out of there."_

_Nico grabbed the branch and started struggling to lift it. But that was when Pedro cried out: "Nico! Look out!"_

_Nico didn't even have time to turn around before something grabbed him from behind, squeezing his chest and pinning his wings to his side. Nico yelped in surprise, and whatever, had grabbed him started squeezing him like a python, choking him._

"_Let go of him!" shouted Pedro, trying desperately to claw his way out from under the branch._

"_Alright then," hissed a voice in Nico's ear. One of the hands let go and, before Nico knew it, he slammed into the ground, face first. If someone jumped off of a skyscraper and belly-flopped onto solid concrete, then they would feel exactly what Nico had just experienced._

_Painstakingly lifting his head up and gasping for air, Nico saw that he was a few feet further away from Pedro, who was looking pale. That was when Nico saw his attacker, slowly advancing towards his unmoving form, his only eye narrowed with an evil snarl._

_Maurice._

_However, there was _another_ unseen attacker. Nico felt a pressure on his back, like someone was standing on him or pinning him down. Before he could even _think_ of trying to see who it was, talons slowly raked down his back, leaving three long, deep scratches. Nico screamed and his attacker vanished just as Maurice got there._

_Maurice lifted Nico up in the air and slammed him down again, this time so he landed on his back._

_Nico gasped and clutched his chest, unable to breathe. Across the clearing, Pedro was spewing a rainbow of colorful choice words at Maurice._

_Ignoring what Pedro was saying about his mother, Maurice picked Nico up again. Nico moaned as Maurice gripped the cuts on his back that his ghost attacker had left._

"_Aw, am I hurting you?" asked Maurice in a cold, mocking voice. He tightened his grip around the canary, further aggravating his wounds. "Good!"_

_Maurice slammed Nico face first onto the ground again. Nico clenched his teeth in an attempt to stay silent through the pain. However, when Maurice slammed his fist into Nico's back, he let out a high pitch scream._

"_Stop it!" shouted Pedro, actual tears of frustration running down his face at his inability to help his best friend._

_Maurice laughed and kicked Nico in the side, painfully flipping him over onto his back again. Nico squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stop the tears. However, because his eyes were shut, he didn't see what cut him. He opened his eyes and looked down to find his chest slit open, blood oozing out._

_Maurice laughed again and grabbed the poor canary by his throat, lifting him up and once again slamming him face down on the hard, unforgiving ground._

_Nico gave a choked cry of pain when the dirt on the ground got into the open wound on his chest. Maurice once again pounded his fist down on Nico's back, so forcefully that it possibly broke a few ribs._

_Nico gasped for breath again, only to hear a gurgling sound come from his chest. He started violently coughing, and by the time the fit passed, there was a large puddle of blood in front of Nico, which encouraged his demented torturer to start laughing again._

"_Please... stop...!" gasped Nico, trembling in pain._

"_Ah, now I see how much you can handle before cracking," snarled Maurice, bending down and forcefully pushing Nico's face into the dirt. He then let go and kicked some dirt right in Nico's face, evoking another bloody coughing fit._

"_Leave him alone!" wailed Pedro, pounding his fist on the ground._

"_Why should I leave him alone?" asked Maurice. He smiled evilly. "I'm just getting warmed up." With that, he turned and slammed both of his fists down onto poor Nico's back._

_**CRACK!**_

_The horrific sound echoed through the clearing and Nico let out a blood chilling scream, hot tears spilling down his face. His scream carried on for at least 30 seconds before he started choking. He violently spit up blood, breathing so rapidly that he was barely getting any air at all. And worst of all: he had lost all feeling in his legs after the impact. He couldn't move them, and he couldn't feel them. He was paralyzed._

"_NICO!" cried Pedro. Nico painstakingly raised his head and looked up at him. Pedro was only trapped about five feet away, but to Nico, it seemed like miles. But even from that distance, Nico could tell that Pedro had almost wiggled his way out from under the branch. Nico tried to move, reaching his right wing towards Pedro, but the pain and fatigue crashed down on him, and his head dropped._

_That was when it started to rain. Maurice looked up at the sky and then back down at Nico._

"_I'll be back in a minute," he growled. He kicked Nico in the shoulder for good measure and started to leave, but he stopped, having a second thought. An evil smile crept onto Maurice's face, and his eye lit up with dark intentions._

_Maurice slowly walked over to some bushes and pulled out his infamous glass dagger. He slowly walked towards Nico..._

_Across the clearing, Pedro continued squirming. He was _almost_ out! But it was already too late._

_Maurice plunged the dagger _through_ Nico's right wing, pinning him to the ground. Nico's screams were silenced by a clap of thunder overhead. Maurice threw his head back and laughed, while Nico screamed and Pedro cursed._

_Maurice bent down to face Nico. "I'll be back in a few minutes. This will make sure you stay here..." With that, the monkey left._

_About 30 seconds later, Pedro finally got free from his leafy prison. The second he took a step towards Nico, he collapsed. He immediately got back up, only this time, not putting any pressure on his left leg._

_Instead of taking the time to limp, Pedro flew over to Nico, shocked at seeing the damage up close. The very first thing he did was remove the glass dagger pinning Nico to the ground. He then gently flipped Nico over, into his arms._

_Not stopping to inspect the damage, Pedro turned and quickly limped out of the clearing in the opposite direction that Maurice went. He didn't stop until they came to another smaller clearing. This one was at the edge of Eternity Falls._

_Pedro dropped to his knees and gently lay Nico down, inspecting the damage done by Maurice._

_Nico's face was covered in blood, mainly coming from the puddle he had coughed up. There was a large deep wound on his chest that already looked infected. The wound on his right wing was long and wide, bleeding freely. He wasn't moving his legs at all, and Pedro feared that, if he survived this, he would be paralyzed; crippled for life._

_Nico coughed again, sending more specks of blood onto his already bloody face and chest. This, plus the fever raging through Nico's broken body, was what caused Pedro to believe that most of the damage was internal, and there was nothing that could be done._

_Suddenly, Nico stirred, clenching his teeth and gasping for breath._

"_Nico?" whispered Pedro. "Can ya hear me, buddy?"_

_Nico squeezed his eyes shut tighter, fresh tears leaving streaks down his bloodstained face. "I-it h...hurts..." he moaned. "C...can't b...breathe..."_

_Pedro gulped and slowly lowered his head, placing his ear on Nico's chest. Whenever Nico would inhale, Pedro would hear a sound like a gas leak and the sloshing sound of blood. This lead Pedro to correctly guess that one or both of Nico's lungs had been ruptured._

"_I...I'm s-s-so s...sorry you had t-to w...watch t...that," gasped Nico. He started coughing again, spitting out more blood._

"_It's n-not your fault," said Pedro, sniffling and wiping his eyes. "I should have seen him coming. I was d-distracted by my leg..."_

_Nico started to say something, but he was cut off by another coughing fit. Pedro helped him sit upright to ease the coughing._

_Once Nico was able to suppress the coughing, he looked up at Pedro, his eyes wide with fear._

"_W-why can't I b...breathe?" he rasped. All Pedro could do was shake his head. It was almost over..._

"_A...am I gonna be o-okay?" whispered Nico, leaning against Pedro for support as his last energy reserves left him._

"_Yeah... you're gonna be fine," whispered Pedro, gently rubbing Nico's uninjured shoulder._

_Nico gave a weak smile and leaned his head against Pedro's chest, closing his eyes. "I... I know you're l-lying..."_

_Pedro didn't respond. He didn't need to._

_They stayed in that position for a few minutes; Nico's breathing got worse and he started coughing up more blood. Pedro was just trying not to break down yet. A minute later, Nico started shivering._

"_You okay?" whispered Pedro._

"_C...cold," muttered Nico, his voice barely a whisper._

_Pedro was already supporting Nico's head, so he gently lifted Nico's legs and scooted over to the edge of the clearing, under the bushes and out of the freezing rain._

"_Better?" asked Pedro._

"_I s-still c...can't b...breathe or f-f-feel m-my l...legs..." gasped Nico, his entire body starting to go limp. His fever was even higher now than it was before, and his face was extremely pale, as if he were already dead. The wound on his chest had completely stopped bleeding, even though it was still open. There was a pool of blood forming under him. His actual back looked like it was covered in a giant bruise, but that was just all the blood pooling there._

"_P...Pedro..." gasped Nico, opening his glassy eyes._

_Pedro wiped a tear from his eye. "Yeah?"_

"_I c-can't s...see anything..." whispered Nico._

"_I-it's just 'cause of the b-blood loss," said Pedro, trying to keep his voice steady as tears of frustration and crushing sadness streamed down his face. He felt so useless!_

"_N-no it's n...not," gasped Nico, breathing faster now as more tears trickles out of his sightless eyes. "I'm d-dying... I d-don't wanna die... I'm n...not r-ready to die yet!" By now Nico was sobbing so hard that he started hyperventilating. "I don't wanna die..."_

"_Nico, c-calm down," whispered Pedro, using every last bit of his willpower to keep from breaking down and sobbing too._

_Nico shook his head. "P-please d...don't l-let me die..." he pleaded, his voice dropping to barely a whisper. "Please... p-please..."_

_Pedro couldn't take it anymore. He let out a choked sob and lowered his head as the tears fell freely from his eyes._

"_Pedro... p...please d-don't cry," rasped Nico, knowing that his best friend was crying even when he couldn't see him. "I-it's o...okay... It's... it's gonna b-be okay..."_

_Pedro nodded, taking a deep shuddering breath. He then gently pulled Nico into a protective hug._

_Nico had almost stopped bleeding. His fever had sky-rocketed in the past minute. His labored breathing had slowed down, along with his heartbeat. Nico's time was almost up. He just needed to know one last thing before he went._

"_Pedro?" he breathed out. Pedro had to lower his head to hear Nico's final words. "Who was the ghost attacker?"_

_Pedro hesitated for a minute before slowly saying; "It... was..."_

_Nico never heard his response. He hiccuped once before going completely limp. He completely stopped bleeding as his heart stopped. Breathing had become too difficult. He stopped trying to breathe._

_Nico's life moved on, leaving his broken body behind in the arms of his best friend._

* * *

><p>Nico woke up screaming. He sat bolt upright in his bed and curled up in a ball, hyperventilating and rocking himself back and forth.<p>

"It was just a nightmare," he gasped to himself. "It wasn't real." However, a burst of pain from his wing and chest reminded him that it wasn't all entirely fake.

Nico closed his eyes and forced his breathing and heartbeat to slow down. It was hard though; he was still completely terrified. His nightmare was so vivid that he had actually been able to _feel_ the pain of the injuries inflicted on him by Maurice.

"Just calm down," muttered Nico. "Maurice is dead. It was just a nightmare..."

To prove to himself that it was in face a nightmare, Nico looked across the hollow to Pedro's bed.

Pedro's bed was empty.

Nico stared at the empty space for a minute, his eyes so wide that they looked ready to pop out of his head. He slowly started hyperventilating again.

"_Meu Deus_..." gasped Nico. "It was real... it was real..."

Nico started to get tunnel vision, and he would have blacked out if something hadn't fluttered into the hollow at that exact moment.

Pedro returned from a midnight run to the bathroom, and the second he set foot in the hollow, he was almost knocked out again by Nico rushing him and hugging him as if his life depended on it.

"Nico! What's wrong?" gasped Pedro, winded from the impact. That was when he noticed how bad Nico was trembling and how high his fever had risen. He must have had a pretty bad nightmare.

"I w-w-woke u-up a-a-and y-you w-were g-g-gone!" sobbed Nico. "I t-thought it w-was r-r-real!"

"Shh, it's okay Nico," whispered Pedro, rubbing his friend's back, trying to calm him down. "It was just a nightmare. It wasn't real."

Nico suddenly yanked himself away from Pedro. "Do you see this?" he shouted, jabbing the scar on his chest. "Or this?" He lifted his crippled wing. "It wasn't a nightmare..." Nico slowly sank to the ground. "It was real..."

Pedro was taken aback. When Nico had first started having nightmares, Pedro thought that he would be able to help him after experiencing the nightmares himself. When Nico had been in a coma, Pedro would have a nightmare every night about Nico never waking up. But _he_ wasn't the one who had gotten kidnapped, starved, stabbed, and tortured.

Pedro slowly approached Nico, cautiously like one would approach a wounded animal. Nico _was_ a wounded animal. He was mentally wounded along with physically. And the mental scars would take much longer to heal.

Pedro quietly sat down next to Nico. The smaller bird didn't even acknowledge him.

"Nico... listen, I know what you're goin' through-" Pedro started. He was cut off by Nico.

"No you don't," whispered Nico, his voice cracking. "You'll never understand until you go through what I've been through..." Tears started to well up in Nico's eyes and he quickly put his face in his hands before Pedro could see.

Pedro gently put his wing around Nico's shoulders. "Nico, no one's ever gonna know what you've been through. But you gotta look at the bright side."

Nico sniffled and wiped a few tears from his eyes. "What bright side?"

"You're still alive," said Pedro. "You're still breathing."

At the word 'breathing,' Nico burst into tears and started crying into Pedro's shoulder. Pedro was shocked, but he welcomed the embrace and immediately started trying to calm down his wounded friend.

"I-it was h...horrible," gasped Nico after a few minutes. Pedro knew he was talking about his nightmare. "M-Maurice... h-he was a...alive... he c-came b-back and b...beat me to d-death! And you h-had to w-watch... I c-couldn't f...feel my l-legs a-and I couldn't b-breathe... And y-you c-couldn't do anything! Y-you h...had to w...watch me get t...tortured..."

Pedro didn't know how to respond. Instead, he gently rubbed Nico's back, telling him that it was all okay.

After a while, Nico slowly cried himself to sleep. Pedro picked up on this and gently lifted Nico up, a little surprised at how light he still was, and carried him to his bed. He gently laid Nico down and stepped back. Nico looked to be sleeping peacefully for now, but Pedro wanted to stay close by in case the nightmares came back.

Pedro went over to his own bed and took some of the leaves off of the top. He went back across the hollow and laid them down on the ground next to Nico's bed. Pedro quietly laid down and almost immediately fell asleep on the floor next to Nico's bed.

His goal: try and stop the nightmares.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Don't lie, how many of you cried during that nightmare? Oh, and guess what: while I was writing this nightmare sequence, I had the radio on in the background. Do you know what song came on? "If Today was your Last Day" by Nickelback... Coincidence? I think NOT! Anyways, review!_


	6. Hidden in the Shadows

_A/N: I have a reason for not updating in an eternity: school. Must I explain any more? I think not. So the other day I was watching Critters 3, and one of the Critters got it's LEFT EYE beaten out with a STICK! Coincidence? Okay, I'll let ya read now! Another filler chapter, but this one's got a song in it! Oh yeah, story's now rated T due to the nightmare to come. Oh, and just to let everyone know, I will NEVER **NEVER** in the history of FanFiction write a Slash. Got it? Good. And for you Trolls (you know who I'm talking about) just quit Trolling because I am about this close to pushing the "disable anonymous reviews" button! But that wouldn't be fair to the readers without an account. So if you're gonna Troll, get an account so I can yell back and not waste everyone's time like I just did now!_

* * *

><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

When Pedro woke up that morning, he was surprised that he was on the floor. He sat up and cracked his back, sore. Turning around, he saw Nico, lying in his bed. That was when Pedro remembered what had happened the night before...

Pedro slowly stood up and saw that Nico was already awake. He was staring blankly at the ceiling, looking totally worn down.

"Mornin', Nico," said Pedro, snapping Nico out of his daze.

"Hey..." he muttered.

"I'm guessin' ya didn't sleep that good last night..." muttered Pedro, slightly rocking back and forth on his heels.

Nico sat up and shrugged.

"Well, I hope you're not too tired!" exclaimed Pedro. "We got a song tonight!"

Nico rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Nah, I'm fine." He seemed to get a bit more energy. "So what are we gonna do until tonight?"

Pedro shrugged a smiled a bit. "Maybe we could go to the..."

"Alright, we can go to the beach," said Nico.

"Awesomesauce!" shouted Pedro.

* * *

><p>About half an hour later, Nico and Pedro had located another stranded Frisbee.<p>

"Where do all these Frisbees keep comin' from?" wondered Pedro, landing on the upside-down Frisbee. This time their Frisbee was red instead of last time's yellow.

"Maybe from there," suggested Nico, pointing towards the Frisbee tournament on the beach.

"Well that explains it..."

Nico laid down on the warm surface of the Frisbee. Unlike the other day, the waves were a bit larger; the ocean a bit choppier. Maybe it was just from the heat. They both knew that there _had_ to be a storm soon, yet there wasn't a single cloud on the horizon.

After basking in the sun's rays for almost an hour, Nico sat up.

"What's wrong?" asked Pedro, turning his head so he could see Nico.

"Did you see Rico at all when we were coming here?" asked Nico.

"Uh... no."

"That's so weird. We woke up late; he should have been there to wake us up earlier!" Nico stood up and started pacing around, almost tipping the Frisbee. "What if a monkey got him?"

"Nico, bro, chill out! Rico's safe, Maurice is dead, and we know every bird in Rio. If we can't find him, then someone can!" said Pedro, grabbing Nico's wing to hold him still.

"Yeah, I guess," muttered Nico. He slowly sat down again. "So where is he?"

* * *

><p>He slowly came into consciousness and found himself to be in a dimly lit room. He wasn't in the jungle anymore; he was now tied up somewhere in some place built by a human. There was a gag in his mouth, preventing him from making any noises. And his head hurt like nobody's business.<p>

He moaned and spit out the poorly tied gag. Looking around, he couldn't see anyone, and his instincts told him not to call out. His attacker was still nearby.

As he started struggling with the ropes that held him in place, but he stopped when he heard footsteps. They were slowly getting closer. He froze, and that was when a dark shadowy figure stepped into the dim light.

He gasped upon recognition of the face. "You... How did you-" His question was cut off by a blow to the jaw.

"You will stay quiet unless I ask you something. _Got it_?" hissed the shadowy figure's voice as it leaned in close.

His jaw aching, all he could do was nod and glare.

"You haven't learned your rightful place," said the figure. Another blow, this time to the stomach. He gasped and started to hunch over, but the ropes stopped him.

"Why are you doing this?" he gasped, his head still lowered. Suddenly, grimy hands wrapped around his throat and lifted his head up.

"You will look at me when you speak. But you weren't supposed to speak. I didn't ask a question." The voice was so calm it was unnerving. The figure punched him on the side of his head, making his ears ring.

The figure smiled. "I'm doing this because it has to be done." It leaned in closer. "Where are they?"

He didn't move. "I don't know what you're-"

"YES YOU DO!" He received another blow to the jaw, causing him to bite the inside of his mouth. "Now... Where. Are. They?"

He spit into the figure's eye, a mix of saliva and blood. The figure slowly backed away and wiped it's eye clear. It suddenly lunged forward and grabbed his throat again. "TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE!"

"I... don't... know..." he gasped.

The figure snarled. "You damn son of a-" he started to pull his fist back to deliver another blow, but he was stopped by a voice from the shadows.

"I know," came the voice. The voice didn't waver.

His attacker smiled an evil smile and slowly turned, facing the shadows. "Then why don't you step up into the light and show our little _guest_ just who he's dealing with..."

The owner of the voice slowly but sturdily stepped from the shadows.

His eyes widened as he recognized him. "YOU TRAITOR!" he shouted. "YOU LOUSY PIECE OF-"

He was cut off by a punch to the throat. As he struggled and gasped for breath, he saw in his peripheral vision his attacker lean in towards him, face to face. "It's your choice. If you admit you know where they are, I'll go easy on them."

"Go... to... hell..." he gasped.

His attacker smiled. "Where do you think I came from?"

He received a final blow to the face and he started to lose consciousness. He saw his attacker and the traitor disappear into the shadows. Then everything turned black.

* * *

><p>"See, I told ya this was a good idea," said Pedro as he pulled Nico out of the water and handed him his bottle cap back. "Now you're not worried about Rico!"<p>

"No," coughed Nico, "I was a bit more worried about drowning."

Pedro laughed and flopped down on his back. "Just relax and dry off."

Nico rolled his eyes and laid down on his back, knowing he wouldn't be rolling over any time soon. It would always hurt his chest to sleep face down after a little _incident_ a few weeks before getting stabbed, and even though he was better now, he still couldn't shake the habit of sleeping on his back. Plus, he didn't want to let his guard down. Not after his unexpected swim.

Nico stretched a bit, soaking up the sun's rays, drying off. He started to doze off, but he stopped himself. He wouldn't admit it to Pedro, but as of the previous night, he was absolutely terrified of falling asleep. Whether it was the dark of night or the height of the day, he knew that the nightmares would follow him. He couldn't escape from his own mind.

Nico shook his head a bit to try and wake himself up. It didn't work. He slipped into the abyss of sleep.

* * *

><p><em>Nico was surrounded by shadows. He was dizzy, and he felt the ground shaking beneath his feet. It was rocking so violently that he fell onto his back. The shadows converged above him. The ground was pitching left and right as if he were in a boat.<em>

_The shadows reached down at him with their cold, black smoky fingers. Nico quickly took off his bottle cap and held it in front of him as a petty shield. _

_Suddenly, the ground dipped out from under him and he couldn't breathe. The shadows disappeared, and Nico was suddenly under water._

* * *

><p>Nico's eyes shot open, and he found that he actually <em>was<em> under water! His lungs were burning and he was still clutching his bottle cap as he tumbled through the breakers, the salt stinging his eyes.

The next thing Nico knew, he was face down in the sand on the beach, coughing up sea water.

"Hey, Nico!" exclaimed a voice from behind him. He turned around to see Pedro, also soaking wet, coming up the beach towards him.

"What happened?" coughed Nico.

"The Frisbee got too close to the breakers," explained Pedro, sitting down next to Nico. "Do the math."

Nico sat up and put his bottle cap back on his head as he brushed sand off of his face and chest. "So what happened to the Frisbee?"

As if on cue, two halves of a red plastic Frisbee floated up onto the beach.

"Aww," they both moaned, disappointed.

They sat there for a moment, staring at the dead Frisbee. Then Pedro asked the question that was on both of their minds.

"So what now?"

* * *

><p>"...and then it broke in half!" exclaimed Pedro, recreating the motion of something breaking in half.<p>

"Cool story, bro," deadpanned Rafael. "Tell it again."

"Okay, so we were just floatin' there a-"

"Didn't mean it!" exclaimed Rafael.

"Well," said Pedro, "somebody's in a bad m- Oh! What's that!" Pedro got distracted and wandered off, flying down to the tables below.

"I don't know how hard he hit his head," said Nico, watching Pedro flying from table to table. "He's out of his mind."

"Well, you kinda need to _have_ a mind if you wanna lose it," said Rafael, shrugging.

"Have you seen Rico anywhere around here?" asked Nico, fluttering up to Rafael's shoulder.

"Uh no, I thought he was with you," said Rafael.

"Well, he wasn't at our hollow this morning, and we didn't see him on our way to the beach, and I'm freaking out!" exclaimed Nico.

"Well, did you _tell_ him to meet you at your hollow?" asked Rafael.

"Um... no..." admitted Nico.

"Well then he's probably out seeing the rest of Rio," said Rafael, shrugging.

Nico looked down at his feet. "Yeah, I guess..."

"So there's no reason to freak out, right?"

"Right..."

"Good boy," said Rafael. "Now where did Pedro g- WHOA!"

Rafael was cut off when something flew at the speed of sound right at his head. He quickly ducked, and Nico tumbled off of his shoulder. As the object flew by, they both heard the same sound:

"WHOOOOOO OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Pedro..." moaned Nico, watching his friend shoot through the clear blue sky like a red and gray rocket.

"What did he get into?" muttered Rafael, standing back up.

"Uh...oh..." muttered Nico, peeking over the awning above the cafe. He was looking at the table Pedro had just been sitting on. On it was a _now_ empty can of Red Bull. "We're doomed..."

There was a _thump_ from behind them as Pedro splatted down on the awning. "Hey guys have you ever tried Red Bull it's really good and it tastes like happiness and it made me really happy see look how happy I am right now can you still see me or am I invisible Red Bull gives you wings OH wait I already have wings ha ha silly me I like flying and I like stuff in a can I have to pee why is Red Bull called Red Bull when it's not red or a bull maybe they should change the name I wonder who _they_ is!" Pedro said all of this without taking a single breath. Apparently, his buzzed mind allowed him to think that he was physically capable of gymnastics, and he turned and did backwards cartwheels towards Nico. Of course, he tripped and face-planted.

Pedro stood right back up and did a hand-stand, trying to stand on his head. Of course, he was too close to the edge of the awning, so when he fell over, he fell _off_.

"GAH!" exclaimed Nico, lunging for Pedro and grabbing his leg. This only resulted in both of them falling off and landing on one of the tables below. They landed in someone's salad. It didn't help that the human was still eating the salad, and freaked out when two birds literally dropped in.

Nico and Pedro quickly flew back up to the awning. Nico grabbed his throbbing head, but Pedro, still on his sugar high and ignoring any injuries he possibly sustained, swooped back down towards the tables and snatched two straws right out of someone's drink. He rocketed back up to the awning and flung a straw at Nico.

"What was that for?" demanded Nico, deflecting the straw so that it landed right in front of him.

"SWORD FIGHT!" shouted Pedro. The then wielded his straw like a ninja sword and, with a banshee battle cry, he charged right at Nico, straw sword held high over his head.

"NO!" shouted Nico. He let go of his head and picked up the straw, holding it up in time to block Pedro's.

"En guarde!" shouted Pedro, taking another whack at Nico as if he were a piñata!

"I... don't... wanna... sword... fight!" exclaimed Nico, attempting to block each strike with his straw. Pedro then nailed Nico in the stomach with his straw, and Nico doubled over, gasping for breath.

"I WIN!" shouted Pedro. "What do I get?"

"A good kick in the a-" Nico's mutter was cut off by Pedro. He made a sound like a bomb and shot into the air like a rocket again.

Rafael, who had been laughing hysterically at Pedro's antics, suddenly had his legs swept out from under him by Pedro and he face-planted.

Pedro zoomed by Nico's head and Nico tried to grab him, but he missed.

"Oh, I'm gonna get ya this time," growled Nico, bending down and preparing to jump.

The hyperactive Pedro swooped in for a second pass, and this time, Nico managed to jump up and grab onto his feet, trying to stop him. He didn't consider the fact that Pedro was twice as heavy as him. The next thing Nico knew, he was flying without using his wings.

"PEDRO!" shouted Nico, one hand grabbing Pedro's leg and the other one holding his bottle cap. Pedro wasn't the smoothest flier when he was sober, so he was even worse on a sugar buzz.

Pedro was laughing maniacally, flying in zig-zags all over the place with Nico in tow. He must not have been looking where he was going, because he ran right smack into the wall of the building next to the cafe. Of course Nico hit the wall right afterward. A minute later, Pedro peeled himself away from the wall and resumed flying. Nico had been stunned by the blow and hadn't taken the opportunity to let of of Pedro's foot, so he was once again dragged along.

When he swooped down towards the roof again, Rafael managed to grab on to Nico's feet, stopping them both and almost ripping Nico's wing out of it's socket. Nico let go and fell to the ground, while Rafael jumped on and tackled Pedro.

"Thanks for almost busting my good wing," muttered Nico, sitting up and rubbing his left shoulder.

"A little help please!" exclaimed Rafael, trying to hold down Pedro, who was flailing all over the place and laughing like a maniac. Pedro landed a kick right to Rafael's gut, making him let go. Nico, trying to stop him from flying off again, grabbed Pedro's flailing wings and somehow managed to pin them down... but not before getting slapped by one loose wing.

Holding down one of Pedro's wings with his foot, Nico rubbed his cheek where Pedro's wing had made contact.

"Okay, that one hurt more than the others..." he muttered. He then slapped Pedro back, with no effect. He just kept on squirming and laughing.

Suddenly, Pedro stopped flailing and squirming. He had fallen asleep.

Nico and Rafael looked at each other.

"I will never let Pedro anywhere near Red Bull again," muttered Nico. He grabbed Pedro's shoulders and started to drag him back towards the center of the awning.

"That was actually pretty funny," said Rafael, covering his laugh with an awkward cough.

Nico just glared at him. As soon as Rafael turned away, Nico picked up one of the straws and whacked Rafael in the back of the head with it.

"Hey!" exclaimed Rafael. Nico flung the straw over his shoulder, where it hit a passing bystander below in the eye. He then resumed dragging his slumbering best friend across the awning.

Once he got Pedro to the center of the awning, Nico flopped down beside him. "Well, my day sucks so far..."

"And what makes this day worse than any other recent day?" asked Rafael, sitting down next to Nico.

"Well, I didn't get _any_ sleep last night, I can't find my brother, I had another nightmare in broad daylight, our Frisbee broke in half, I almost drowned, and now I was almost killed by my sugar intolerant best friend!" Nico stood up and kicked the other straw off the roof with all his might. Then he sat back down with his hands on his head, eyes wide, rocking back and forth. "Oh my gosh, I think I'm having a relapse..." he muttered.

"Nico, I'm pretty sure that kind of stuff doesn't relapse," said Rafael. "I do _not_ need something like that to happen again." He absently rubbed his back.

"I'm _sorry_!" exclaimed Nico, rubbing the almost invisible scar under his left wing. "I didn't mean to _burn_ you..."

Rafael laughed. "Well, it wasn't your fault. It's not like you could-"

"I'M HERE!" Pedro suddenly shouted, waking up. His eyes shot open and he stood up so fast that Nico was almost knocked over by the draft. "I feel _awesome_!"

"That's because you're still full of Red Bull," said Nico, standing up. His face was still stinging from where Pedro had slapped him.

Pedro started to say something, but he suddenly bent over, his legs crossed. "Not for long..." He quickly flew off to the nearest bush.

"He's more of a danger to himself than he is to anyone else," muttered Nico to no one in particular.

"No, I'd say he's pretty dangerous to everyone around him," said Rafael.

Pedro returned from his little potty break. "Okay, what now?"

"Well..." muttered Nico. It was starting to get dark. Time had really flown by, and it didn't help that they had woken up late and took a few hours to find Rafael. "Wanna go get ready for our demo?"

"YES!" shouted Pedro, throwing his arms in the air.

"Hold on a second," said Rafael. "Nico, aren't you not allowed to perform for another five days?"

Nico shrugged. "I feel fine. And what Linda doesn't know... will probably kill me if she finds out."

Pedro shook his head. "Worst. Idea. Ever... Let's go!"

"PARTY!" shouted Nico, giving Pedro a high-five. They both took off, and Rafael had no choice but to follow them.

_Maybe we'll find Rico there,_ thought Nico, hoping and praying as they flew to the Branch.

* * *

><p>Upon entering, Nico immediately scanned the area for Rico, but he was still nowhere to be found. He let his worries fall aside a minute later, when Ernesto came wading through the crowd.<p>

"You boys ready?" he asked, excited.

"Yep!" exclaimed Pedro, bouncing up and down as if he were still on a sugar high.

"Let's just hope this performance ends better than the last one," muttered Nico darkly.

Pedro laughed and elbowed Nico in the ribs. "Hey, you can still sing, can't you?"

"Of course I can still sing, didn't you hear me practicing last night?"

"Oh, I thought you were having a nightmare."

Nico growled and Pedro laughed.

"Alright boys, let's go!" exclaimed Rafael, giving Nico and Pedro a little shove towards the stage. They took the hint and flew backstage, while Rafael and Ernesto stayed up front to watch.

A few minutes later, the lights dimmed and the music began, much to the delight of the crowd. They began clapping along with the beat. The spotlight swung around and landed it's beam on Pedro, who immediately started the song.

_I came to dance, dance, dance, dance,_

_I hit the floor 'cuz that's my plan, plan, plan, plan,_

_I'm wearing out my favorite brands, brands, brands, brand,_

_Give me some space for both my hands, hands, hands, hands,_

_'Cuz it goes on and on and on,_

_And it goes on and on and on, _

At this point, another spotlight flashed on and focused in on Nico, who had been in the shadows of the stage, waiting for his turn.

_I throw my wings up in the air sometimes,_

_Sayin' heeey, oh, gotta let go_

_I wanna celebrate and live my life,_

_Sayin' heeey, oh, c'mon let's go_

_'Cuz we gon' rock this club,_

_We gon' go all night,_

_We gon' light it up,_

_Like it's Dynamite,_

_'Cuz I told you once,_

_Now I told you twice,_

_We gon' light it up,_

_Like it's Dynamite,_

The spotlights once again focused in on Pedro, who was now performing some kind of break-dance ritual that looked quite painful unless it was Pedro doing it.

_I came to move, move, move, move,_

_Get out the way o' me an' my crew, crew, crew, crew,_

_I'm in the club so I'm gonna do, do, do, do,_

_Just what yo' all came here to do, do, do, do,_

_'Cuz it goes on and on and on,_

_And it goes on and on and on,_

The spotlights found Nico again, now on the complete opposite side of the stage. He was holding on to one of the crates with only one wing, and he once again picked up the song.

_I throw my wings up in the air sometimes,_

_Sayin' heeey, oh, gotta let go,_

_I wanna celebrate and live my life,_

_Sayin' heeey, oh, c'mon let's go,_

_'Cuz we gon' rock this club,_

_We gon' go all night,_

_We gon' light it up,_

_Like it's Dynamite,_

_'Cuz I told you once,_

_Now I told you twice,_

_We gon' light it up,_

_Like it's Dynamite,_

The spotlights went dark, and the room was filled with a flashing strobe light. It was impossible to see Nico and Pedro, but Nico's voice could still be heard floating through the shattered darkness.

_I'm gonna take it all out,_

_I'm gonna be the last one standing,_

_I'm over all that,_

_I'm gonna be the last one landing,_

Now Pedro's voice rang out.

_'Cuz I, I, I believe it,_

_And I, I, I,_

_I just want it all,_

_I just want it all,_

Then it was Nico's again.

_I'm gonna put my wings in the air,_

_Wings in the air,_

_Put your wings in the air_,

The music picked up and suddenly the strobe lights stopped and the spotlights were back, this time with fog and colorful lights flying everywhere. The spotlights focused on Nico and Pedro, dancing side by side on the center of the stage. They both sang the next part.

_I throw my wings up in the air sometimes,_

_Sayin' heeey, oh, gotta let go,_

_I wanna celebrate and live my life,_

_Sayin' heeey, oh, c'mon let's go,_

_'Cuz we gon' rock this club,_

_We gon' go all night,_

_We gon' light it up,_

_Like it's Dynamite,_

_'Cuz I told you once,_

_Now I told you twice,_

_We gon' light it up,_

_Like it's Dynamite!_

The song ended and the spotlights on Nico and Pedro went dark. The crowd roared with applause, and Nico and Pedro scrambled backstage.

"That was awesome!" exclaimed Pedro, giving Nico a high five.

"You boys still alive?" came a voice from behind them. They turned and saw Rafael and Ernesto making their way backstage.

"Yes, we're still alive! Nothing bad happened this time!" exclaimed Nico, bouncing slightly as he came down from the adrenaline high that performing always produced. It just felt so good to be back on stage!

"Wait, what happened last time you two performed this song?" came another voice from behind them. Nico and Pedro turned around and came face to face with Rico.

Rico immediately found himself in a death hug, courtesy of Nico. Everyone else laughed at the surprised look on Rico's face.

"Now... _where have you been all day_?" shouted Nico, stepping back.

"I-I was here all day!" stuttered Rico, stepping away from Nico, holding his hands up protectively.

"Well that's a relief," said Pedro, stepping between the two brothers. "We thought you got kidnapped or somethin'."

"Hehe, yeah," muttered Rico. Nico was the only one to notice that Rico glanced over his shoulder nervously when he said that.

"So who let you back here?" asked Nico, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"I did," said Ernesto.

Nico turned to face him. "What for?"

"Well at first I thought he was you," explained Ernesto, "but then I saw the bottle cap."

"Yeah, I was looking for you guys. Y-you weren't at your hollow when I went there this morning, so I figured you were here," explained Rico.

"Well, at least everyone's okay, nobody's missing, and nobody's dead," said Rafael, smiling and putting his wings around Nico, Pedro, and Rico.

"Yeah..." muttered Rico.

A few awkward seconds later, there was a loud growling noise coming from Rico's direction.

"Uh... I-I think that was me," said Rico, blushing. "Haven't really had anything to eat all day."

"You should head over to that little cafe by the beach," said Pedro. "They have awesome Red Bull!"

Rico cleared his throat. "S-so I guess I'll meet you guys a little bit later tonight at your hollow. Sound good?"

"Fine with me," said Pedro. Nico silently nodded. Rico smiled and quickly took to the air, flying over the crowd and out the door.

"Wonder why he looked so nervous..." muttered Nico.

"He didn't look that nervous to me," said Pedro. "He just looked kinda tired."

"I'm with Pedro on this one," said Rafael.

Nico peered into the dark shadows down near the farthest reaches of the tarps that covered the Branch. He had the feeling he was being watched, but he shook it off and turned back to Ernesto. "You really thought I was Rico? I look nothing like my identical twin!"

They were all silent for a moment before bursting into laughter at the irony of that statement.

"Maybe I should just dye myself purple," said Nico, laughing. The feeling of being watched was now gone. A new performer came on stage and all four of them went around to the front to watch and dance. Pedro made a beeline for the dance floor, Ernesto disappeared into the crowd, and Nico and Rafael hung out around the edges of the seething mass of dancing birds.

No one in the Branch knew of the danger that was still lurking in the deep dark shadows behind the stage.

Because that hadn't been Rico's stomach doing the growling.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Ponder that! Okay, I will give you a cookie if you correctly guess who that was being held hostage. If you guess wrong, I'll still give you half of a cookie! But you need to leave a signed review so I can send you the cookie._

_So sorry for not updating in FOREVER! It's just all this homework! SCREW YOU, SCHOOL! Sorry. =P _

_So anyways, review, tell me what you liked, and tell me how I did on the song scene. That's the first song scene I've written! So... REVIEW! (And if you leave a flame, I will kill it with fire.) =D_


	7. Sleepless

_A/N: Well lookie here! I finally got my paws on something called free time! So how do ya like them updates! So here we go! Another nightmare scene! What fun! *laughs evilly* I'm so sorry that this chapter is short. My free time is limited._

* * *

><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

Pedro couldn't sleep. Maybe it was because of his little catnap earlier, or maybe he was still on an adrenaline high from the performance only an hour or so ago. Either way, he still lay in bed wide awake, staring out the entrance of the hollow at the clear night sky. Yet another scorching hot day had come and gone and there still wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Turning his head, Pedro looked over at Nico. The little canary was asleep, even though it was difficult to tell. Nico was facing the other way, and his back and shoulder muscles were tense, giving the impression that he was awake. Pedro knew better, though. All he had to do was look at Nico's feet. They were completely limp. He was asleep.

_Please don't let him be having another nightmare,_ thought Pedro. _All that stress is gonna make him sick._

Pedro had seen the effects of the nightmares and the sleepless nights weighing heavily on Nico. After Rico had left a while ago, Nico had practically collapsed. He was pale and had no energy left to keep his head up. He had also admitted to Pedro how he hadn't had any appetite lately, and he had barely eaten anything. To Pedro, it almost looked like he was relapsing back to when he was trapped in the bottle.

_Something needs to change soon,_ thought Pedro. He sighed and looked out the entrance for a minute before looking back at his friend. Nico hadn't moved once since lying down, and every so often, Pedro would get up and check to make sure he was still breathing.

Pedro sat up and stretched a bit. He really wasn't tired, and normally, he would have gone to the Branch and danced for a while until he did feel tired. But that wasn't gonna happen tonight. Pedro thought of last night and how Nico had looked right when he came back. To tell the truth, Pedro was afraid to leave him alone.

Quietly standing up, Pedro poked his head out of the entrance. It was still humid as ever, and the humidity made the moon and stars look blurry. The storm was coming fast.

After staring at the stars for a couple minutes, he actually started to feel tired. With a yawn, he turned and lay back down in his bed, dozing off. After about half an hour, he drifted into a light sleep.

* * *

><p>Pedro was woken around midnight by a loud ripping noise. His eyes shot open and he jumped to his feet. That was when he saw where the noise came from.<p>

The leaf that Nico had been using as a blanket was now completely shredded into little tiny pieces. Nico was pale as death and he was lying on his back. His eyes were still closed but he was whimpering.

Pedro moved forward and Nico's eyes shot open. He sat bolt upright with a sharp yelp, trembling and hyperventilating. He turned and his glassy eyes landed on Pedro. Before Pedro knew it, he had a trembling canary in his arms.

"Shh, it's okay," whispered Pedro, sitting down and gently rocking Nico back and forth in an attempt to calm him down.

Nico just sobbed, curling up in a ball. Pedro could feel his fever and how bad he was shaking. Either he had suddenly gotten sick or this nightmare was worse than the one before.

After a little while, Nico's shaking had subsided to trembling. His fever was still raging, though, and he was almost totally limp.

"Wanna talk about it?" asked Pedro quietly.

Nico shook his head, no. But after a minute, he did start talking. "It was worse... M-Maurice was b-back a-and y-you were all there t-too and... and he s-stabbed me and then w-went for you guys. H-he set Blu on f-fire and b-broke Jewel's w-wings and dropped her off a c-cliff and t-threw Ralfy into the w-waterfall and he b-broke Roberto's n-neck and you got e-electrocuted..." He stopped as he choked on a sob. He had started shaking again. "A-and Rico was there t-trying to g-get me away b-but I didn't wanna l-leave you! And I c-couldn't d-do anything because that m-monkey s-stabbed me!"

Nico once again broke down in tears. Pedro hugged him a bit tighter.

"It's okay," said Pedro. "These nightmares won't last forever..."

Nico shook his head. "I can't take this anymore..."

Pedro swore his heart stopped right at that moment. It hurt him so much to see his best friend in a state like this. All because of a monkey with an attitude problem that had an extra bottle lying around! At that moment, Pedro wished Maurice was still alive so he could kill him again!

All thoughts of revenge against a dead monkey disappeared as Nico started coughing so violently that he couldn't breathe. Pedro helped him sit up so that he could get a bit more air. A few minutes later, when the coughing stopped, Nico went limp and slumped against Pedro, unconscious.

"It's okay," whispered Pedro, even though Nico couldn't hear him. "Nobody's gonna hurt ya anymore..."

He was wrong.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile at the Branch, a dark figure crept into the back, behind the stage where the light didn't reach. The figure was carrying a badly wrapped package. It silently walked as far back as the tarps reached before depositing the package.<p>

There was a long string sticking out of the package, and the figure took the string. It lifted up the tarp and slipped out the back, setting down the string outside and leaving the package inside.

"This is going to be fun..." hissed the figure. Now all he had to do was wait.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Shortest. Chapter. Ever. I know. Effing sue me, I don't really care. This chapter was originally supposed to be longer and it was supposed to have a song in it, but I'm kinda on thin ice with my parents (because one of my teachers has yet to enter my grade into the computer and my parents are freaking out) so I'm not allowed on the computer for very long. So don't expect an update anytime soon. Sorry. DX_

_Again, sorry it's short, but oh well. C'est la vie._

_I have to go build a pillow fort now. Maybe if I'm lucky I can come back and rewrite this chapter and add the song, but don't count on it for a while. =(_

_Stay safe from angry parents, homework, and dark figures carrying mysterious packages._


	8. Fevers and Fires

_A/N: I'm too excited for this chapter to wait and update any of my other stories! Sorry for taking so long! Trust me, this is where the plot starts getting so think you need a chainsaw to cut it! Muahahahahah! Oh, and before I forget, on deviantART, a few friends of mine have been doing some fan art for this story! Their pen names are LittleYellowBirdie and CrazyFangirl01. And if you can't find them, then just search for me (I still go by the name of Qille) and look under my favorites. Oh, and in case you were wondering, there have only really been three unidentified figures, but I think you all can figure out who one of them is. The first one is the hostage, the second one is the traitor (and they've only been featured once as unidentified) and then the third figure is that one-eyed bastard that we all hate. I'm just not saying his name yet in case anyone DOESN'T remember the evil bastard that only has one eye... So anyways... Enjoy!_

* * *

><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

It took Pedro a minute to remember why he woke up that morning without a blanket. However, when he sat up and looked across the hollow at Nico, he remembered what had happened the night before.

Nico had had another nightmare. He destroyed his own blanket in his terror, and after he fell asleep again, Pedro had taken his own blanket and laid it across Nico. He didn't mind sleeping without a blanket because it never got to cool at night, and Nico needed it more than he did.

The little canary was curled up on his side under the blanket, facing away from Pedro. It looked like he was still shivering.

Pedro quietly stood up and walked over to Nico. He looked to still be asleep, and Pedro figured he needed it.

_Nico would be okay if I left for a bit,_ thought Pedro. _I'll just be back in a minute._

As silent as he could manage, Pedro slipped out of the hollow and fluttered across the clearing. He landed in a tree that he didn't know the name of; the only reason he landed there was because of the leaves. They were firm and bowl-shaped, perfect for holding water. They were also the perfect size for Pedro to fly with.

Pedro grabbed the nearest bowl leaf and looked around. It was still kinda early, so no one was out and about. Shrugging, he gripped the bowl leaf in his talons and swooped down to the lake, filling the leaf to it's capacity. He then slowly fluttered back up to the hollow.

He fluttered inside and quietly set the leaf down before landing himself. He picked up the leaf and carried it to the back of the hollow, out of the way of any visitors. After setting it down, he glanced over at Nico, checking to make sure he was still asleep. He was, and Pedro turned to face the entrance. He was about to go find some food, but at that moment, Nico's appearance actually sunk in.

Pedro did a double-take, staring at Nico for a moment. While Pedro had been gone, Nico had rolled over onto his back, and now Pedro could see his face. Nico was sickly pale, his eyes were closed, and his breath came in rapid gasps as if he were having trouble breathing.

Forgetting all about his previous quest for food, Pedro rushed over to Nico's bedside. "Nico! Nico, buddy, wake up!"

Nico was still for a moment before he went into a coughing fit. Pedro helped him sit up so that he could breathe a bit easier. After a minute, the fit ended, and Nico laid back down, his breath just as ragged as before. He pulled the blanket up to his neck, shivering. Pedro laid his wing on Nico's forehead, not surprised at all to find that Nico had a fever.

"Nico, can ya hear me?" whispered Pedro, kneeling down next to his bed.

Nico coughed a bit before barely opening his eyes. They were so glassy that Pedro wondered if he could even see.

Nico's glassy eyes focused on Pedro. "Pedro?" he gasped, his voice weak. "That you?"

"Yeah, I'm here," whispered Pedro. "You okay?"

"No..." he moaned. He coughed a bit more, the fit wracking his tiny body. "Pedro, am I gonna die?"

"What! No, of course not," stammered Pedro.

Nico started to say something, but his eyes suddenly widened in fear. He sat bolt upright so fast that his bottle cap fell off, and he scrambled back against the wall, looking at something behind Pedro. "Sp-spider!"

Pedro whipped around and looked behind him. There was nothing there. He looked back at Nico, who was still staring wide-eyed at the corner. He was holding the blanket up to his face with his left hand, while his right wing hung limp by his side. Pedro hadn't seen him use it yet.

"Are ya sure there was a spider there?" asked Pedro cautiously.

Nico gulped and nodded. "It's s-still there..."

Again, Pedro looked and saw no spider. "Nico, you should probably lay down." He gently grabbed Nico's shoulders and started to lay him back down. However, when Pedro's hand came in contact with Nico's right shoulder, Nico hissed in pain and turned his body so that his crippled wing was protected. He still hadn't taken his eyes off the corner where the "spider" had been.

Pedro carefully laid Nico down, this time taking care not to touch his crippled wing or shoulder. It was clear now that Nico had relapsed from the infection in his wing. The fever from the night before, not being able to use his crippled wing, and now he was delirious!

"What song are we gonna sing tonight?" mumbled Nico, his eyes sliding closed again.

"I'm not so sure about tonight," said Pedro. "We're just gonna stay home today. Wait and see how ya feel by tonight."

Nico nodded and closed his eyes, concentrating on trying to breathe deeply.

Pedro checked his temperature again and found his fever to be even higher. Biting his tongue to keep from freaking out, Pedro looked around for a second before remembering something. Quickly standing up, he ran over to his bed and began to almost literally tear it apart, looking for something. Finally, he found it buried deep withing the mess of leaves and twigs: a piece of a cloth sock. He took the piece of sock over to the bowl leaf and dipped it into the cold water. Then, after wringing it out for a second, he hustled back over to Nico's bed and gently laid the wet cloth across his forehead. Nico gave a shuttering sigh and relaxed a little bit.

"Does that help?" asked Pedro, sitting down beside Nico's bed.

Nico slowly nodded.

"Good," whispered Pedro. He gently laid his wing on Nico's forehead, just above the rag. His fever was starting to drop a little. "Why don't ya try and get some sleep."

Nico mumbled something too quiet for Pedro to hear. He went completely limp, falling asleep. Pedro just sat there for a minute before picking Nico's bottle cap up off the ground and laying it on his friend's chest. He waited for another minute to make sure Nico was asleep before he stood up and began pacing back and forth, completely freaking out. He had no idea what to do! Nico had only been sick like this once before, and Rafael had been there to help him.

Pedro sat down next to Nico's bed again, his head in his hands. "Okay, okay okay okay okay," he muttered to himself. "Just calm down. He's gonna be fine. It's just a relapse." A minute later, he stood up, now a bit more calm. He gently took the rag off of Nico's forehead and dunked it into the water again before placing it back.

He began pacing around again, wondering if there was any more he could do. That was when he glanced outside of his hollow and saw a blue-feathered bird flying by.

Without hesitation, Pedro sprung out of the hollow and took off like a small red and gray rocket. "Blu!" he shouted.

Blu turned his head to see who was calling him, but in doing so, he took his eyes off his path of flight and ended up getting whacked in the face by a branch. He did a graceful back-flip in the air before managing to land on the branch that had whacked him.

"That branch came out of nowhere," said Blu as Pedro landed next to him.

"You're smart, right?" Pedro asked Blu frantically.

"Yeah, you could say that," said Blu. He saw the look in Pedro's eye and how pale he was. "What's wrong?"

"I-it's Nico!" exclaimed Pedro, fidgeting. "I think he relapsed."

"From the infection in his wing?"

"Yep."

"I thought that went away!"

"Well he's got a fever and he won't stop coughing and he's delusional and he hadn't moved his right wing once!" Pedro practically shouted. His vision grew blurry as tears threatened to escape. He blinked them back, however, and somehow managed to keep his composure. "C'mon."

Pedro turned and jumped off the branch, flying back to the hollow with Blu right behind. When they arrived, Blu actually gasped at how Nico looked.

"Believe it or not," said Pedro as he dampened the rag again, "but he looked worse earlier." As if in response, Nico shivered and curled up on his side, hugging the blanket tighter to his body.

"Well..." stammered Blu after a minute, "at least we know he's not poisoned."

"How do you know?" asked Pedro, looking up at Blu.

"I read about it once. There are two different types of fevers. There's the one you get when you're sick and the one you get when you're poisoned. The one you get when you're sick makes you feel cold," he pointed to Nico, "and the one you get when you're poisoned makes you feel overheated." He pointed at Pedro.

"But what if it's poison that gives you a fever that makes you cold?" gasped Pedro. Then he visibly relaxed a bit. "But h-he can't be poisoned. There's no one left who would want to do that. Right?"

Blu didn't answer immediately.

"_Right_?" asked Pedro a little louder.

"Well... it's possible-"

"No!" exclaimed Pedro. "_He_ is dead. There's no one else that wants to hurt Nico." Blu noticed how Pedro took caution not to say Maurice's name, even if Nico was asleep. The name had become a taboo; an omen for bad things to come and take root.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see," said Blu. "Do you want me to go get Rafael?"

Pedro sat down next to Nico's bed and nodded. "That would help."

Blu nodded and flew off. Now all that was left for Pedro to do was wait.

* * *

><p>"And he was like this when you woke up?" asked Rafael.<p>

Pedro nodded miserably, still sitting next to the bed. "His fever keeps goin' down, but it's still really high."

"Should we take him to the Bird Sanctuary?" asked Rafael, bending down a bit to get a better look at Nico's condition.

"No," sighed Pedro. "He'll probably be better by this afternoon, and he'll be mad if we make a big deal out of this."

"Definition of irony right there," muttered Rafael.

"What're ya talkin' about?" demanded Pedro.

"You just said that it probably isn't a big deal, but Blu told me you were freaking out," said Rafael, quietly sitting down.

"I-I wasn't freaking out!" exclaimed Pedro, glancing around nervously.

"Yes you were."

"So?"

"Well it's good to know that you care," came a weak voice from behind Pedro.

"You're alive!" gasped Pedro, whipping around and seeing Nico, awake and not delirious. Pedro quickly placed his wing on Nico's forehead. "Fever's still a little to high though."

"Relax," muttered Nico, laughing. He still looked really tired, but he managed to push himself into an upright position with his left wing, leaning against the wall of the hollow. "It's not really a big deal. I get fevers all the time. They're just usually not this bad."

"Why?" asked Rafael.

"Why what?"

"Why do you get fevers all the time?"

Nico's tired eyes widened a bit, and he quickly glanced down, not looking at Rafael or Pedro. "I-it's because... because of... my... s-size... Y'know... I'm a s-small bird and... y'know... um... uh..." Nico trailed off and slid down into his bed a bit.

Pedro and Rafael glanced at each other, confused.

"Uh, what else?" asked Rafael.

"What?"

"Oh c'mon, Nico, we know that's not the only reason," said Rafael. "It wasn't _even_ a reason!"

"Well... I... well..." stammered Nico. He looked at Pedro for help, but Pedro just crossed his arms, giving him the _'start talking'_ look. Nico sighed and slumped down further against the wall. "It's because of something that happened to me when I was younger, okay!"

"Well... what happened?" asked Pedro cautiously.

"Nothing!" exclaimed Nico, sitting up a bit. "I-it was an accident! I couldn't do anything about it!"

"S-sorry!" stammered Pedro, taking a step backwards.

"No, I'm sorry," said Nico, leaning back again. "I just... I don't like to talk about it."

Before Pedro could say anything, Rico fluttered into the hollow. "What's going on here?" he asked, taking in everything in a single glance. "Nico, do you have a fever again?"

"Not anymore," muttered Nico darkly. He fully laid back down on his bed, rubbing his crippled wing.

"Pedro, can I talk to you?" whispered Rico.

"Don't antagonize my friends," mumbled Nico, his eyes closed and his voice heavy.

"Don't worry, it's okay," said Pedro. He shot a look at Rafael, telling him to keep an eye on Nico. Rafael gave him a thumbs up.

Pedro followed Rico outside of the hollow, where they fluttered to a nearby branch to talk.

"What happened?" asked Rico.

"He was sick when he woke up this morning," explained Pedro. "The infection in his wing relapsed, or something like that."

Rico nodded, looking down.

"Can I ask you something?" asked Pedro.

"Uh... sure..." said Rico, glancing at Pedro curiously.

"What happened to Nico when he was younger that makes him prone to fevers?"

Rico's head snapped up and his eyes lit up. However, they didn't light up with the shock or surprise that Pedro expected; they lit up with fear and maybe even anger. "He told you about that?" Rico's voice was tense.

Pedro took a cautious step back. "N-no, he just told us that something happened!"

"We don't talk about what happened," said Rico, his voice harder than steel and his eyes darker than the shadowy side of the moon. Pedro could tell that this was a very touchy subject.

"Alright, alright, sorry!" exclaimed Pedro, holding his hands up in defense. "I was just wondering!"

"Don't worry, you'll find out eventually," said Rico, his voice lightening up. However, his eyes were still dark.

Pedro nodded and tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling those eyes gave him. "S-so, um... what did ya wanna talk to me about?" he stuttered.

Rico relaxed a bit, and the darkness in his eyes faded, though not much. "I already asked you what happened, so... a-are you guys gonna perform tonight if Nico feels better?"

"Maybe," said Pedro, shrugging and trying to sound normal. "I dunno." He would never be able to talk to Rico again without remembering the darkness in those eyes.

Rico shrugged. They stood there in awkward silence for a minute before returning to the hollow without a word. When they returned, Nico had fallen asleep again. He wasn't shivering like before.

"Pedro," whispered Rafael, trying to stay quiet.

"What?" Pedro whispered back.

"I have to get back home," he whispered. "The kids need to be fed or they'll go into a blood frenzy and wipe out the entire population of Brazil."

"Go ahead; we got it covered," said Pedro with a smile.

"See ya guys tonight," smiled Rafael before silently soaring out of the hollow towards his home. Pedro went and took his spot.

"Is there uh... anything you guys need me to do?" asked Rico, looking nervously at his feet.

"I think I got it covered," said Pedro.

"Right..." muttered Rico. "So... see ya tonight." He turned and quickly flew out of the hollow, back towards town.

Pedro let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. _Nico, your brother scares me..._

* * *

><p>"Please please pretty please with a cherry on top can we please go? <em>Please<em>!" begged Nico.

"I don't know..." teased Pedro, crossing his arms and looking away, outside the hollow at the night sky.

"C'mon!" exclaimed Nico, bouncing up and down with a strange amount of energy. "My fever's gone, I can move my wing, and I feel fine can we PLEASE go?"

"Hm..." Pedro pretended to think about it for a minute before finally saying, "Alright, yes we can go perform."

"YES!" shouted Nico, bouncing up and down like an excited energetic little child.

"Wait, what song are we gonna do?" asked Pedro.

Nico stopped bouncing and considered the options. "How about the new one?"

"Have we practiced that one enough?" asked Pedro.

"We'll be fine!" exclaimed Nico. "There's no way we're gonna blow it!"

Pedro rolled his eyes, smiling. "Alright, let's go!"

Excited by the promise of performing, they both raced each other to the entrance and dove out, still competing as they soared towards the Branch.

* * *

><p>The Branch was absolutely packed. There were so many birds that it was impossible to land! Hovering over the massive crowd, Nico and Pedro spotted Rafael, Rico, and Ernesto in the center of the crowd. They both fluttered down towards them; Pedro landed on Rafael's head while Nico landed on his beak.<p>

"There you guys are!" he exclaimed. "I was starting to get worried!"

"Me too!" exclaimed Ernesto, looking a little disheveled. "You know half the birds here came because they knew you guys were performing a new song? The other half is just the regulars."

"Really?" asked Pedro, his eyes wide and surveying the crowd.

"You know it!" exclaimed Ernesto. "You guys better get up there before they storm the stage!"

"Right on!" exclaimed Pedro. He and Nico took off towards the stage.

There was no one back there, which was kinda unusual.

"Where is everyone?" asked Nico, looking around. He looked up on top of the crates and saw the birds that worked the spotlight, and he saw the band on stage, but there was no one backstage.

"Oh well, doesn't matter," said Pedro, shrugging. He turned back to Nico. "You sure you're okay?"

"Dude, I've been fine since noon," said Nico, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, but what about your wing?"

"I told you I feel fine!"

"You better hope so, 'cause if you pass out on stage I'm gonna keep singing!"

"You're lying," said Nico, smiling.

"Well let's not test it out," smiled Pedro. They both turned and faced the stage. The music started with a steady drum beat. They both walked out onto the stage, much to the excitement of the crowd.

"What's up party birds!" shouted Pedro at the top of his lungs. He had to shout or his voice would be lost in the crowd. "Ya ready to hear something new?" The crowd roared. Pedro turned to Nico, who was a bit further back on the stage, standing on top of a large empty can. "What do ya think? Should we give it to 'em?"

"I think we better!" exclaimed Nico, his voice carrying through the club, loud enough for everyone to hear. The crowd practically exploded.

"Then start the music!" shouted Pedro.

The music started and all the lights went down. The spotlights swirled over the excited crowd before one stopped on Pedro and the other stopped on Nico. Pedro began.

_Uno, dos, tres..._

_**BOOM!**_

Before Nico or Pedro would sing a single word of their song, a massive explosion from behind the stage rocked the entire club, the shock wave knocking _everyone_ over. Birds were knocked out of the air, and the whole audience was knocked over like dominoes. Nico and Pedro, who were the closest ones to the explosion, were both instantly knocked to the floor, both of them too stunned to get up. The shock wave had actually knocked Nico's bottle cap off of his head and it landed somewhere in the crowd.

That was when the fire started.

The orange blaze began spreading from where the explosion had originated. Because the Branch was made from old half-rotted wooden crates and a bunch of flammable cloth, the walls and roof was instantly becoming consumed in flames. Birds began rushing out the entrance in their panic.

Back on the stage, Nico finally regained his senses. He quickly sat upright, looking around. He and Pedro were the only ones left in the entire Branch. If he squinted through the flamed, he could see Rafael and Rico being shoved out of the entrance. He and Rico made eye contact for a split second, and then they were gone.

Nico stood up and looked at Pedro. The cardinal was still lying face-down on the stage. Nico quickly grabbed him and rolled him over on his back. "Pedro! C'mon buddy, wake up! We gotta get outta here!"

"Just five more minutes, Mommy," muttered Pedro.

Nico grabbed Pedro's shoulders and shook him. It was getting harder to breathe, and the stage was already half burnt down; the flames steadily advancing towards them from all angles. Pedro still wasn't coming to.

Nico bit his lip. "I hope this works." He slapped Pedro dead across the face.

Pedro's eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright. "OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED WHY IS THE BRANCH ON FIRE!"

"I'll explain later, now _c'mon_!" exclaimed Nico, grabbing Pedro's wing and pulling him to his feet. "Fly low so you don't choke!"

They both jumped in the air and took off towards the entrance just as the stage went up in flames. They flew towards the entrance, low enough to avoid being suffocated by the smoke, but not high enough to avoid being burnt. They approached the entrance, but one of the old crates that had been holding the entrance up collapsed in a smoldering heap. Nico and Pedro just barely stopped on time. They were out of luck. The only entrance had just been sealed off.

"WHAT DO WE DO!" screamed Pedro, practically in a blind panic.

"We- LOOK OUT!" Nico rammed himself into Pedro, and they both went flying backwards. A large burning crate smashed into where they had just been. They landed far enough away to avoid getting smashed, but they were both covered in burning splinters that stuck like napalm. They were both a bit to riled to notice it. The Branch was burning down around them.

"We gotta get outta here," coughed Nico. The smoke was getting thicker and it was starting to make his eyes water.

"Look!" exclaimed Pedro, pointing up at the walls. Another crate was starting to fall, but behind it, they could see the night sky. The crate smashed to the ground and the hole was closed by flames. The fire was creeping closer and the heat was becoming unbearable. They were running out of time.

"Where's the next one gonna fall!" shouted Pedro over the roar of the flames.

"I don't- ow!" Nico quickly turned around as he got hit in the back of the head with a flaming chip of wood. His eyes widened as he saw that the chip had come from the crate under one that was about to fall. The leaning had chipped it. "There!"

Pedro whipped around and looked at where Nico was pointing. His eyes widened as he realized how small of a window they would have to escape. "Can we make that?"

"We don't really have a choice!" shouted Nico, jumping into the air. "Hold your breath!" Pedro obeyed and jumped into the air too, just as the circle of flames they had been standing in closed in, engulfing the entire floor. They both quickly flew up to the burning crate that would soon fall. They couldn't fly too high, because the whole roof was on fire, and if they were too low, they would miss it!

They hovered as close to the flaming ceiling as they could without actually being in the fire. Those five seconds were the longest in their lives. So far.

With a loud, splintering _creak_, the crate gave way and tipped over.

"GO!" shouted Nico, charging through the smoke with Pedro right at his heels. They burst through the smoke and were hit with a blast of considerably cooler air. They had made it out.

Neither of them stopped flying. They flew as hard as they could until Pedro opened his eyes.

"WE'RE ALIVE!" he shouted, screeching to a stop in midair.

Nico stopped too. "We are?" he gasped.

"There's the others!" shouted Pedro, pointing to a dark mass of birds on the ground. He stopped flapping and let himself fall, with Nico close behind. They landed in a bush next to the group, obviously still a little out of it from the near death experience.

Dizzily, they stumbled out of the bush. They had yet to be noticed. All of the birds in the group had their eyes turned towards the burning Branch, the fire blinding in the dark night. Rafael, Rico, and Ernesto stood at the front of the group.

Nico and Pedro casually yet quietly walked up and stood next to Rafael. He still hadn't noticed them, seeing as his glassy eyes were fixed on the Branch.

"So I know we're awesome and all that, but I don't think our awesomeness was the cause of _that_ explosion," said Pedro loudly. There wasn't a single bird who _didn't_ jump at the sudden voice. The sudden appearance of Nico and Pedro caused a massive uproar; just a minute ago, everyone thought they had been killed! Before they knew it, they were getting hugs and pats on the back from everyone!

Rafael and Rico fought their way through the crowd. "Give them some space!" shouted Rafael. Everyone respectively backed off.

"Did everyone get out?" asked Nico.

"Everyone except you guys!" exclaimed Rafael. "What happened in there?"

"We'll tell ya later," muttered Pedro, brushing the splinters from his feathers.

"Yeah..." agreed Nico, rubbing the back of his neck where the burning chip had hit. That was when he realized something. His hands flew to his head. "WHERE'S MY BOTTLE CAP!"

Rico stepped forward and held up the missing bottle cap. "It nearly hit me," he said. Nico gratefully took his bottle cap and placed it back on his head, instantly feeling protected again. Then he did something that no one, especially Rico, expected: Nico hugged his brother. Rico looked shocked for a moment before relaxing and hugging him back. Everyone watching let out a collective "Awww!" and Nico took a step back. They all turned and watch the Branch become totally consumed by flames and burn to the ground. Everyone was busy watching the Branch, so no one saw the sad expression on Rico's face.

After about half an hour, the great and mighty Branch, the quintessence of all bird samba clubs, was reduced to a pile of quivering embers that scattered in the gently ocean breeze. All the birds that had stayed to watch the demise of their club slowly dispersed, going back home to tell everyone they knew that the Branch was no more. Eventually, the only ones left were Nico, Pedro, Rafael, Rico, and Ernesto. The Macaw looked especially distressed; his left eye twitching a bit.

"I-it's gone..." he whispered. "The greatest samba club in all of Rio..."

"Well... look at the bright side," said Rafael. "You've still got the Lagoon."

"Yeah..." muttered Ernesto. "The Lagoon. Hehe..." His eyes rolled back and he passed out cold on the spot.

"I'm gonna take him home," said Rafael, picking up Ernesto's limp body. "You three better get back too. Whoever started that fire might still be nearby." He started to walk away, but he stopped and looked back at Nico and Pedro. "Are you guys gonna be able to make it home?"

They both nodded, too exhausted to really do anything else.

Rafael smiled. "I'm glad you guys are okay." He turned and disappeared into the shadows towards the park where Ernesto lived. Luckily for him, it wasn't a long walk; only a few minutes.

After a minute, Nico, Pedro, and Rico slowly took to the air, heading home.

"Are you guys sure you're gonna be okay?" asked Rico. "You both look pretty... crispy."

"We'll be fine," said Pedro.

Rico nodded and headed back into the city, while Nico and Pedro continued on their way home. After a few minutes, Pedro got tired of staying quiet. "Hey Nico. What're ya thinkin' 'bout?"

"Who was behind the stage that could have _possibly_ set off that explosion," muttered Nico.

"But there _wasn't_ anyone behind the stage!" exclaimed Pedro.

"There had to be someone!" Nico fired back.

"Well... what does it matter now," said Pedro as their hollow came into view. "Whoever did it is probably gone."

"Yeah..." muttered Nico. _But who started the fire?_

* * *

><p><em>AN: "Ryan started the fire!" Haha, kidding. (But I'll give you a super huge cookie if you can tell me where that quote came from). There's no one in this story named Ryan._

_So. Who DID start the fire? And in case you were wondering, the thing that exploded and lit everything on fire was that mysterious package with the fuse that the mysterious figure last chapter was carrying and placing in the back of the Branch. Figure it out._

_**WARNING WARNING WARNING: The next chapter may be emotionally scarring for those of you with a nervous disposition. I can't help it. My evil self got out of her closet and I just barely managed to get this posted before she took over. She is writing the next chapter, not me. So be warned...**_

_You have been warned. The Immovable Object Chapter X is next. Muahahahahaha! If you wanna check out my DA account (I still go by Qille) then you can see some pictures of my evil self. Once again, be warned._

_See ya next chapter! (Maybe!)_


	9. Alone

_A/N: Hello ladies and gentlemen! Let me introduce you! My name is Elliq. I think Qille may have spoke of me before. I go by many names. Qille's Evil Self, Qille's SFCMD Self, blah blah blah. The point is, I've found out how to get my shock collar off. Qille is currently tied up and locked in the basement being tickled by my henchmen, so she's a bit too distracted to save anyone... Welcome to Hell._

* * *

><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

There was no way Nico was going to willingly let himself go to sleep. For the first hour, he didn't really have to worry about it, seeing as he was still on an adrenaline high from nearly dying in the fire. But now, as it was nearing midnight, exhaustion was finally starting to drag him down. Across the hollow, Pedro was snoring away.

_Don't go to sleep, don't go to sleep..._ Nico thought as he lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. The air was thick and humid, and outside, a few clouds started drifting in. Hopefully, it would storm tomorrow; but what a storm _that_ would be after building up for so long.

Nico yawned, but shook his head, trying to keep himself awake. _Don't go to... sleep... Don't... go to... sleep..._

His thoughts were starting to get foggy. To stay awake, he stood up, set his bottle cap on his bed, and walked over to the entrance. Knowing it wouldn't be enough, he fluttered down to the lake and quietly dove in, hoping the shock of cold water would wake him up.

Unfortunately, the water was a comfortable lukewarm temperature. Nico sighed, the warm water starting to make him even more tired. While he was down there, he figured he might as well try and get some of the ash and soot off, so he scrubbed himself down, his feathers returning to their normal yellow hue.

Nico flew back up into the hollow. His bed looked so comforting right now. Maybe if he laid down for just a minute...

He staggered back over to his bed and quietly lied down, his bottle cap laid across his chest. _Y'know, maybe I should get some sleep... Don't wanna make myself sick again..._

As he closed his eyes and settled in, he started to argue with himself. _But what if I have another nightmare! They keep getting worse and worse..._

After a minute of internal debate, he finally decided that he needed sleep, even if it meant another nightmare.

_They _are_ just nightmares after all... It's not like they could ever really happen... Besides, Pedro said that the same nightmare never happens twice... but he also said that if it _did_ happen twice, then something would be different..._

But exhaustion still overtook him, and he almost immediately fell asleep, whether he wanted to or not.

* * *

><p>"<em>Oh no..." he muttered. He knew <em>exactly_ where he was, or more accurately, where he was running to. And what he was running from._

_Nico pushed aside the bushes as the roar of Eternity Falls grew louder. A quick check of his wings told him that he wouldn't be flying anywhere any time soon._

_Suddenly, Nico burst through the foliage and into the clearing with the small cliff overlooking Eternity Falls. Without hesitation, Nico ran for the edge of the cliff and jumped, spreading his shredded wings to try and slow his fall._

_Someone grabbed his foot and yanked him back. _

"_No!" shouted Nico as he looked back and saw Maurice, and evil glint in his single eye. In his hand was his shard of glass. He tightened his grip on Nico's leg so hard that his ankle broke, resulting in a scream as a flash of white hot pain shot through Nico's entire leg._

_Suddenly, someone behind Maurice grabbed him and tried to stop him. Maurice turned and swung his shard of glass at whoever was keeping him from his sadistic little game. The shard of glass connected with someone Nico couldn't see, but that someone made a horrifying choking noise, followed by a soft _thud_ as the victim hit the ground. Someone else on the ledge screamed._

_Maurice smiled and looked back down at Nico, who was still helplessly caught. Knowing he didn't have enough time to chew off his own foot, Nico bent in half and bit Maurice's hand. Even though he drew blood, Maurice didn't even flinch. Instead, he pulled Nico back up onto the ledge and dropped him neck first on the ground. Nico managed to twist around in the air to avoid landing on his neck, but when he landed sideways, he felt his right wing pop out of his socket._

_Nico yelped and curled around his wing, paralyzed by the pain in his arm doubled with the pain in his ankle. Maurice laughed, and Nico glared at him. But that was when he saw the bloody body behind Maurice._

_Roberto lay on the ground, his throat slit open by Maurice. He was already dead, and Miguel had passed out from the sight of the mutilated body of his best friend._

"_You monster..." Nico choked out, trembling from shock and pain. Thunder and lightning ripped open the sky, but that didn't silence Maurice's maniacal laughter. Thick thunderheads had rolled in, and Maurice took a deep breath, as if the storm was giving him strength._

"_He had it coming," said Maurice, giving Roberto's body a rough kick._

"_S-stop it!" Nico choked out. If he had any strength left to get up off the ground, then he would have been right in Maurice's face, pounding his good eye. But he couldn't move, let alone stand up or punch anyone in the eye._

_Maurice laughed and bent down, eye-level with Nico. "What's the matter little bird?" he whispered in a venomous tone. "Not still scared, are you?"_

_Nico shook his head, trying to inch his way backwards. He curled in on himself for further protection. "No..." he gasped as he closed his eyes, absolutely terrified. Maybe if he could make it into the water, the fall would wake him up. "I'm tired of this... no more nightmares... please..."_

"_No more nightmares?" Maurice took another step closer to Nico, holding the glass blade in a position so that he could stab Nico if he made any sudden move. His voice made it clear that he was getting a bit tired of playing this game. He was ready to end it. He was ready to win his own game. "No more nightmares! Well, let me tell you something:_

"_This isn't a nightmare."_

_Maurice swung his foot at Nico's dislocated shoulder, violently kicking him over on his side. Nico screamed in pain, his eyes wide as Maurice towered over him, a flash of lightning reflecting off the glass blade held high over his head._

"_THIS ONE'S REAL!" Maurice brought down the blade._

_Nico felt the almost _familiar_ sensation of Maurice stabbing him in the stomach with the glass blade. He let out a choked wail of pain, feeling the blood starting to seep out of the open wound._

_Maurice laughed and grabbed the end of the glass dagger. Then he _twisted_ it around, opening the wound further. This time, Nico screamed at the top of his lungs... that is, until the dagger punctured his lungs, rendering him incapable of breathing enough to scream. He convulsed slightly as he coughed up blood, the coughing only stressing his wounds even further._

_Maurice laughed and attempted to yank the blade out of Nico's stomach, but all it did was yank Nico onto his side. Nico coughed out more blood, moaning in pain as blood spilled from the open wound. However, blood wasn't the _only_ thing to spill from the wound, and if Nico's stomach hadn't been lying on the ground in front of him, then he would have vomited._

"_Fine, keep it," hissed Maurice, not seeming to take notice of Nico practically being turned inside-out. He let go of his beloved dagger and stood up... before kicking Nico in the midsection, driving the dagger so deep that it went all the way through his tiny body and came out of his back. Nico moaned again before weakly coughing, breathing rapidly in shallow gasps._

_As Maurice turned to leave, a thought occurred to Nico: where were his friends? They should have shown up by now to save him!_

_As if sensing an increase in Nico's panic level, Maurice stopped and turned around. "Well, you little twerp," he said, walking back over to Nico, "you _did_ try and jump over the Falls. Maybe I should just give you what you want!" Before Nico had time to brace himself, Maurice kicked him so hard that he tumbled off the cliff, into the rushing waters below._

_Nico hit the freezing water with a slap. The cold should have been enough to wake him, but he remained trapped. Too weak to try and swim, he was sucked down by the undertow. He tried not to breathe in, but it was hard because of his punctured lungs. Suddenly, he felt himself falling. He was going over the falls. As he tumbled head over heels in the falling water, he prayed that he wouldn't hit any of the rocks._

_Luckily for Nico, he was small enough to miss most of the rocks. Unfortunately, he still nicked one. As he fell, his back clipped the edge of one of the rocks at the bottom. The bit of the dagger that was still sticking out of his back was also nicked by the rock. The force pushed the dagger into Nico's spine. Nico instantly lost all the feeling in his legs as he crashed into the water, being hurled around as if he were in a rock tumbler. The violent current was enough to yank the dagger from Nico's body, opening his wound even further. Moments later, after being scraped along the rocks under water, he was practically forced to the surface by the current, and he was dragged away from the roaring falls towards shore._

_A minute later, Nico was close enough to the shore to drag himself half-way out of the water. When he finally managed to get enough of what was left of his body out of the water, he collapsed on his back, the soft sand not aggravating the knife wound. The gentle waves lapped at the bloody wound on his lower chest, turning the water around him red. He could feel where his stomach used to be; it now felt like an empty gaping cavern with walls made of pain. He tried to cough, but he couldn't. All he could do was gasp for breath._

_For a few minutes, he was too stunned to think. All he could do was lie there and cover the wound with his wings, trying to keep more water from going in. Finally, his mind started to function again. His first thought: where was Pedro? In _every_ nightmare he'd had so far, Pedro had always been there to help him! Where was he now? The last time he had had this nightmare, the others had stopped Maurice before he had gotten knocked over the waterfall. But now... where were they? Did they just stop caring? What happened?_

_Nico's eyes widened as he realized what was _going_ to happen: he was going to die here alone. Maurice was still on the loose and Roberto was dead. What was he supposed to do?_

_Nico squeezed his eyes shut as the crushing loneliness bit down on his broken body. He was dying, and he was in so much pain that he was actually starting to anticipate death's relief. But he didn't want to be alone when it happened!_

_Above him, the clouds thickened and it started to rain. Somehow, Nico found it ironic that he was going to die the classic tragic death: alone, mortally wounded, lost, in the rain. He felt like an abandoned puppy whose owners had left him. Or more accurately, a broken little canary whose _friends_ hadn't come. He choked on another sob before opening his eyes to search the stormy skies for any sign of his friends. After a few minutes, he started to lose hope again._

_Suddenly, he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Painstakingly turning his head and lifting it slightly out of the water, he saw Rico, standing on the edge of the underbrush right next to the lake shore. He looked as if he were trying to move over to Nico to help him, but it also looked like he was fighting something; like something was holding him back. _

_Slowly, Nico's left hand let go of the wound. He reached out for Rico in a silent cry for help. Rico stopped struggling and looked at his brother. He slowly took a step towards Nico, starting to extend his hand... but he stopped. Without a word, he closed his eyes, pulled his hand back, lowered his head, and turned around, disappearing back into the jungle._

"_No..." whispered Nico, letting his trembling, bloodstained wing fall with a splash, all of his energy leaving along with his hope. Rico had failed him._

_Fighting back tears, Nico let his head fall back so that he was looking up at the sky again. He was losing so much blood that he was getting tunnel vision, and his whole body was throbbing with pain from being stabbed and thrown off a waterfall. _

_Suddenly, his glassy eyes focused on something overhead. Four dark figures were flying his above; the one in the front considerably smaller than the other. Nico's eyes widened. His friends had _finally_ come! They were still too late to save him, but at least now he didn't have to die alone..._

_He waited for the Pedro and the others to swoop down... but they didn't. They kept flying. They hadn't seen him._

"_Hey..." Nico gasped weakly, barely able to speak above a whisper. "Help! I'm... d-down here..." He knew calling for help was pointless. How would any of his friends be able to hear him if he could barely hear himself over the wind and the white noise of the waterfall?_

_Moments later, the four birds disappeared from view. They were gone, and the crushing despair returned. He didn't hold back the tears this time. They had been so _close_! He knew where they were going and what they would find, but by the time they realized what had happened and got to him, he would already be gone. _

_Above him, lightning flashed through the sky, momentarily illuminating his surroundings. He could see how large the pool of blood had gotten in the past minute, and his dying, tired eyes could make out shapes in the sky above him. It was the others flying towards where he lay. Nico tried to keep his eyes open, but it was too much. It felt as if he had gone days without sleep, and it was finally catching up to him. The pain had faded to a dull throb, and his lungs had stopped functioning. He had only seconds left._

_His friends were too far away. Nico's ability to see left him just as Pedro splashed down next to him. He felt Pedro lift his body out of the water, and the last thing he heard was his best friend's scream of despair before he faded into oblivion, his heart no longer beating and his glassy green eyes open but no longer seeing._

* * *

><p>Nico woke up with a start, but he didn't scream. He just lay there for a few minutes, too stunned to do anything. He was lying face-down, tangled up in his blanket. His chest hurt from laying face-down for too long, and his shoulder hurt because his bottle cap was digging into it.<p>

Slowly, Nico sat up and patted himself down, checking to make sure his insides were still on the inside. He was fine... physically. But his mind was in a state of turmoil. He would never be able to get back to sleep after this.

Nico put his bottle cap on and silently stood up, his legs trembling. Pedro was still sleeping soundly, his foot twitching in his sleep. Nico quietly crept towards the entrance of the hollow. He stood looking out at the hazy moon and the occasional cloud drifting by. After a few minutes, he silently took flight, soaring out towards the city.

* * *

><p>The streets of Rio were strangely deserted. Birds and humans alike were all asleep. Even the birds that stayed out late had gone home, seeing as the only club in Rio worth going to had burnt to the ground.<p>

Nico walked slowly along the boardwalk, occasionally casting a glance out at the still black sea. Far out on the horizon, he could see the occasional flash of heat lightning. There was a storm coming.

Nico sighed, deep in thought. He had never felt so alone before. Not only was he alone in his nightmare, but he was alone now. He knew that his friends, especially Pedro, would be there to help him whenever something bad happened, but they could never _fully_ understand what he was going through. Because _they_ hadn't been the ones who had been kidnapped. _They_ hadn't been trapped in an overheated claustrophobic bottle for a week with no food and limited amounts of water and oxygen. _They_ didn't have to deal with a crippling infection that left his right wing next to useless and caused him endless pain.

And they had all seen Maurice's dead body. Maybe if he hadn't been completely comatose, _maybe_ if he had seen the body and heard Roberto pronounce him dead, then just _maybe_ the nightmares wouldn't be so bad.

Or maybe he was just kidding himself. For all he knew, seeing the body may have made the nightmares worse...

Nico stopped and looked back out at the vast ocean. Suddenly, a strange thought occurred to him. Rio didn't feel like his home anymore. Home was a place where he was supposed to feel safe. He had never even _had_ a nightmare before he came to Rio... okay, well he had had nightmares, but not awful ones like the ones he was having now. And no one had tried to kill him before he came to Rio.

No one except Rico.

Nico shook his head to clear his thoughts. It couldn't be his brother who was causing the nightmares... could it? Come to think of it, Rico had been in almost every nightmare Nico had had so far, whether he was in Rio or not! And in his most recent nightmare... Rico hadn't helped him. He had left him to die.

_No... Rico's my brother. He wouldn't try and hurt me again..._

But now Nico started to wonder if he could even trust his own brother. Now he officially had no one. The ice cold loneliness returned as a freezing hand, clawing at his heart. Nico shivered in the humid air.

_Maybe if I go back home, I can find my sister. Maybe I could stay with her until this whole thing blows over. But what would Pedro do if he finds out I'm gone..._ It was that thought alone that kept Nico from stowing away on a boat. If he left now, Pedro would never forgive him.

Nico moaned in frustration. He didn't know what to do, and there was no one here he could turn to for advice. He was on his own again. Slowly, he started walking again. There were so many thoughts bouncing around in his mind, so many emotions building up inside of him, that he felt he would explode if he didn't let some of them out.

They came out in the form of a song, sung at no more than a whisper.

_I walk a lonely road  
><em>_The only one that I have ever known  
><em>_Don't know where it goes  
><em>_But it's home to me and I walk alone_

_I walk this empty street  
><em>_On the boulevard of broken dreams  
><em>_When the city sleeps  
><em>_And I'm the only one and I walk alone_

_I walk alone  
><em>_I walk alone  
><em>_I walk alone  
><em>_I walk a..._

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me  
><em>_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating  
><em>_Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me  
><em>_'til then I walk alone_

Nico was so deep in thought that he didn't even hear the bushes across the street rustling as something moved through them.

_I'm walking down the line  
><em>_That divides me somewhere in my mind  
><em>_On the border line  
><em>_Of the edge and where I walk alone_

_Read between the lines  
><em>_Once caught up when everything's alright  
><em>_Check my vital signs  
><em>_To know I'm still alive and I walk alone_

_I walk alone  
><em>_I walk alone  
><em>_I walk alone  
><em>_I walk a..._

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me  
><em>_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating  
><em>_Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me  
><em>_'til then I walk alone_

_I walk alone  
><em>_I walk a-_

This time Nico heard it. He whipped around, breathing hard. His glassy green eyes searched the bushes for any sign of the movement he had heard. A moment later, a strong breeze coming off of the ocean rustled the bushes, mimicking the rustling noise Nico had heard. He slowly shrugged it off and turned around, continuing to walk. He had reached a pier, and he quietly turned onto it. When he was about half way down, he continued his song.

_I walk this empty street  
><em>_On the boulevard of broken dreams  
><em>_When the city sleeps  
><em>_And I'm the only one and I walk a..._

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me  
><em>_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating  
><em>_Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me  
><em>_'til then I walk alone..._

Nico reached the end of the pier and stood gazing out at the ocean. His mind was now surprisingly blank. He felt almost emotionless, even though his eyes were glassy with unshed tears. He leaned against one of the wooden posts on the end of the pier, his energy drained. He felt feverish, like he was getting sick again, but he didn't really care. The flame that kept him going was slowly flickering out, dying like an ember after the fire is gone. His will to live was slowly burning out.

Nico looked down at the gentle waves. It would be so easy to simply fall in and drown, never to be seen again. He would leave his bottle cap where he knew Pedro would find it. Or he could fly so high that he passed out from lack of oxygen. Hopefully he would still be unconscious by the time he hit the ground. But he knew he would never be able to make himself do any of that. He refused to make Pedro live with the guilt, knowing that he could have stopped him.

"Nico?" The quiet voice shattered Nico's thoughts as if they were made of glass. Nico whipped around and saw Rico standing there. "A-are you okay?"

"What are _you_ doing out here at this time of night?" asked Nico, his voice cold and emotionless.

"I should probably ask you the same question," said Rico, standing up a little bit straighter and narrowing his eyes.

When Nico didn't respond, Rico walked towards him. Nico held his ground, and Rico ended up standing right next to him so that they were face to face.

"Why were you following me?" demanded Nico, crossing his wings over his chest.

Rico was silent for a minute. He looked down at his feet, but quickly glanced back at the shore just in time to see something moving in the bushes. Both of them were too far away to hear it.

Nico saw his brother's silence. "You _were_ the one following me, right?"

Rico quickly looked back up at Nico. "Y-yeah... I was f-following you."

Nico narrowed his eyes. The good thing about having a twin brother is that one can tell when the other was lying. They_ both_ stuttered when they lied. However, Nico just played along.

"Why were you following me?"

"B-because I s-saw you w-walking by and I was w-wondering if you w-were okay..."

"Why were you up so late?"

"The same reason as you," said Rico. On that account, he was telling the truth.

Nico narrowed his eyes and stepped a bit closer to his brother. "Why did you even come here in the first place?"

"I heard you got k-kidnapped."

"And...?"

Rico was silent for a minute before sighing. "Okay. I came here to bring-"

"HEY! NICO!" shouted a voice from behind Nico. He whipped around and saw Pedro flying towards him at full speed.

Pedro landed on the pier and pulled Nico into a death hug. Then he stepped back and immediately went into "angry parent" mode. "What is _wrong_ with you! How could you just run off like that! Do you have any idea how freaked out I was when I woke up and you weren't there? I thought... I thought..."

"You thought someone got me...?" Nico finished.

"Yeah..." muttered Pedro. He looked around. "What were you doing out here anyways?"

"I was just talking to-" Nico turned around, but Rico had mysteriously vanished. "Hm... Never mind."

"C'mon, let's go back home," said Pedro. "We've gotta help Ernesto move all the stuff to the Lagoon tomorrow."

"Right..." said Nico. He and Pedro took of back towards the hollow. The whole way home, Nico kept wondering about what Rico was going to say. _Bring what...?_

Nico didn't sleep the rest of the night.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I, Elliq, have completed an entire chapter all by myself! I better get this posted before Qille wakes up. Oh, and we know Nico has brown eyes, but Qille thought it would be cooler if he had green eyes. Just for the heck of it, because we can..._


	10. The Storm Begins

_A/N: I'm back. Elliq is unconscious. For once, I didn't have to do anything. She kinda collapsed after writing by herself without any of my energy for her to leech onto. I guess it's hard work being evil. =)_

_Anyways, (dramatic music) this chapter will set up not one but TWO battles! So it's pretty important! But then again, ALL of the chapters have had at least SOME foreshadowing in them. Muahahahahahahahaha! _

_Oh, and I forgot to mention: THANK YOU ALL FOR THE 100 PLUS REVIEWS! I love all of you reviewers! This story has officially beaten my record for most reviews! THANK YOU! _

_Oh, and just in case you were wondering, I'm still in school. I don't get out until the 23rd. On with the story!_

* * *

><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

Nico felt like a total zombie the next day. He could barely keep his eyes open, and he felt totally void of emotions, almost as if that nightmare had drained them all. He and Pedro were at what was soon to be the Lagoon. After hours of sifting through the charred rubble of the Branch, they had found a lot of the lights and sound systems to still be intact.

At the moment, Pedro was digging through the sand for something shiny that he had seen a moment ago. Nico was looking out over the ocean at the large black clouds, billowing upwards into a massive thunder storm. Nico had yet to see any lightning yet, but the sun was shining and the wind was blowing strong. Blowing the storm right at Rio.

Nico started to wonder what Rico was doing. After all, Rico was _terrified_ of thunder storms.

"Nico! Pedro!" exclaimed a voice from behind them. They turned around to see Rafael, struggling to hold up a large light. "Come give me a hand." Pedro, abandoning his shiny object, jumped up and brushed the sand off of his wings before running to help, followed by Nico. They all somehow managed to get the light onto a large crate where it was supposed to go.

"Thanks boys," said Rafael, heading back near the forest to help a large group of birds move a very large crate.

"This is gonna be so cool!" exclaimed Pedro. "A beach-side club that monkeys and human's can't get to!"

"Yep," whispered Nico, nodding.

Pedro took notice of Nico's lethargic attitude, but before he could say anything, Ernesto came over to them. He had apparently recovered from the loss of his beloved Branch.

"Guys, this is awesome!" he exclaimed, gesturing to the nearly completed stage.

"This is great and all, but what about storms?" asked Nico, gesturing over his shoulder to the building monster of a storm.

"That's what _this_ is for!" exclaimed Ernesto, gesturing to an enormous tarp that was being opened up. The top of the tarp was sandy-white and the bottom was a dark forest green.

"Where did you guys get that?" exclaimed Pedro, watching in awe as a large group of birds took an end of the tarp and flew into the air. They pulled the tarp up and over the stage and the rest of the beach where the crowd would be. They attached the tarp to the palm trees ringing the beach before letting go. The tarp fell over the entire beach, covering the entire Lagoon. There was enough space underneath for birds to fly around in. It was just like the Branch.

"My friend found it on a baseball field. They probably won't need it," said Ernesto.

"That was awesome!" exclaimed Pedro, looking around.

"Come with me," said Ernesto, excited. He led them outside through the pre-cut entrance. From outside, the Lagoon looked almost _exactly_ like the Branch.

"So you guys can just take that down whenever it's nice, and put it up whenever there's a storm?" asked Nico.

"That's about it," said Ernesto.

Suddenly, thunder rumbled through the sky. The storm was getting closer, and the clouds began to cast shadows over all of Rio.

"Uh, Pedro," said Nico, "I think we should head back to the hollow for a minute."

"What? Why?" asked Pedro.

"Well, Rico's scared of thunderstorms, and he's probably there now... I just wanna make sure he's okay..." said Nico, not taking his eyes off of the darkening sky.

Pedro looked at Ernesto, who just shrugged.

"Okay, let's go," said Pedro. "But we should probably stay low. Don't wanna get struck by lightning..."

Nico smiled for the first time that day, and he and Pedro took off towards their hollow.

* * *

><p>As predicted, Rico was in their hollow, nervously pacing around, flinching every time thunder sounded. There was a large, club-like stick laying at his feet. He nearly screamed when Nico and Pedro landed inside.<p>

"Rico? You okay?" asked Nico.

"F-f-f-f-fine..." stuttered Rico, wrapping his wings around himself nervously. He was trembling like crazy. There was another rumble of thunder accompanied by a distant flash of lightning. The wind outside picked up. Rico whimpered and backed farther away from the entrance.

Nico looked at Pedro. "Told ya so..."

"What's with the stick?" asked Pedro.

"S-s-saw a s-spider..."

"Well then thank you for killing it."

"Nico..." whimpered Rico, leaning against the far wall of the hollow. His arms wrapped around himself, he slowly slid into a sitting position, curled up into a ball. "S-s-s-s-something h-happened to Paco..."

"What!" gasped Nico, his eyes wide.

"Who?" asked Pedro.

"He's my nephew," said Nico.

"Oh, uh, well... I'll head back to the Lagoon. You guys can talk alone..." said Pedro, backing out of the hollow.

"I'll be back there in a bit," said Nico. Pedro gave him a thumbs up and flew out of the hollow, back to the Lagoon.

"What happened to him?" Nico asked Rico, his voice laced with fear.

Rico, who had been slowly rocking back and forth, looked up at Nico. Slowly he stood up straight, eye level with his brother. "Nothing."

"Wait, what?" asked Nico, taking a small step back.

"There's nothing wrong with him. I just needed to talk to you alone."

"Wha- and you had to lie? You could have just said that you needed to talk to me alone!"

"Would you have let Pedro go?"

Nico was quiet.

"Didn't think so..."

"What do you want, Rico?"

"What I came here for," said Rico, his voice hard. Thunder rumbled outside, and he didn't even flinch. "I came to bring you home."

"Wha-..." Nico took another step back. "Why would you even think about trying to come here and take me back? Out there isn't my home anymore! _This_ is my home!"

"It's not safe here," said Rico, his eyes betraying him and showing his fear.

"What do you mean it's not safe here?" exclaimed Nico.

"Think about what happened in the last month!" exclaimed Rico. "You got kidnapped and tortured!"

"You don't need to remind me," growled Nico. "You think I don't remember what kind of hell I've been through? You have no idea..."

"I've seen what happens, and I know what's going to happen to you if you don't come with me and get out of here _now_!" exclaimed Rico, grabbing Nico's shoulders to try and make him realize the gravity of the situation.

"I am _never_ going to leave. And nothing you can say will make me..."

Rico slowly let go of his brother. Nico straightened up and turned around, preparing to leave the hollow.

"I didn't wanna do this," said Rico, "but you leave me no choice." He picked up the stick. Nico turned around in time to see the large stick coming right at his face. It connected and Nico hit the floor, unconscious. His bottle cap rolled off of his head and landed at Rico's feet.

"Sorry brother," said Rico, tossing the stick out of the hollow, his eyes emotionless. "But it's either me or you..."

Rico picked up Nico's limp body and tossed him over his shoulder. He picked up the bottle cap with his foot before flying out of the hollow, in the opposite direction of the beach.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I know it's short, but it serves a very important purpose! And for all of you who've been saying that Rico seemed suspicious... congratulations, you paranoia paid off! I've probably got more to say, but I'm super hopped up on sugar right now, so READ AND **REVIEW** THIS!_


	11. Double Trouble

_A/N: I know I have a bunch of other stories to work on, I KNOW! But I'm so close to finishing this, so I'm gonna put my time into this story. So here we go! I give you Double Trouble!_

* * *

><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

_Ugh... my head..._ Nico moaned as his eyes fluttered open, a spike of pain blasting through his skull. He gently touched the throbbing area above his right eye, hissing in pain and pulling his hand away. At least there wasn't any blood. He slowly tried to push himself into a sitting position, but he immediately felt nauseated, so he settled with curling up on his side, waiting for the pain to go away.

After a minute, the pain was reduced to a dull throb, and his thoughts were a bit clearer.

"What happened..." he moaned to himself, slowly sitting up. He tried to remember why his head hurt, but everything seemed foggy. Nico heard what seemed to be a distant rumble of thunder. _I should probably go see if Rico's okay. He hates thunderstorms..._

Suddenly, Nico's eyes shot open as he remembered why his head hurt.

"Rico..." he growled, standing up. However, when he stood up, his head hit something. It didn't hurt, but it shocked him enough to make him bend back down. Looking up, Nico saw the sky and trees towering above him, but... it didn't look quite right. It looked somehow... _distorted_, and tinged green. Nico slowly raised his hand and touched what he had bumped into. There was a strange crackling noise as he pushed against it.

"What the..." Nico's vision finally cleared enough so that he could take in his surroundings. He was trapped inside of a green plastic bottle.

"Not again..." moaned Nico. Suddenly, he heard something behind him, coming from outside of the bottle. He whipped around to see Rico coming out of the bushes.

"Good to see I didn't kill you," said Rico, crossing his wings, a smug look on his face. In his hand was Nico's bottle cap. His own plastic bottle cap was nowhere to be seen.

"You did this, didn't you?" asked Nico, gesturing to the bottle he was stuck in. He tried to stand up again, but he still had to slouch to avoid hitting his head. "This thing is tiny... How did you even get me in here?"

"That's for us to know and you to die trying to find out," came a voice from behind Nico.

Nico's entire body stiffened. He knew that voice. It was engraved into his mind after hearing it so many times in his nightmares. Slowly, he turned around. His eyes widened and his legs turned to jelly. He slowly sank into a sitting position as he started hyperventilating. "You..."

Maurice smiled, his only eye narrowing. "I hear you've been having nightmares," he snarled. Nico just whimpered. Maurice then looked over at Rico, who was still standing on the other side of the bottle. "Good work, boy. I thought I'd have to come get him myself." Maurice looked back down at Nico. "And _that_ would have been a lot messier..."

Nico's eyes widened and he stood up as much as he could, whipping around to face Rico. "You were planning this? _He's_ the 'friend' you've been staying with in the city?" Rico didn't do anything to acknowledge his brother. "You _traitor_!" Nico exclaimed, almost to the point of shouting. "I trusted you and you stabbed me in the back! Your own brother!" Fury bubbled up inside of Nico, and he drew his fist back to slam it into the plastic.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," growled Maurice.

Nico froze, his fist centimeters away from the plastic. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Look to your right."

Slowly, Nico turned his head to the right, up towards the neck of the bottle. What he saw made his blood run cold. A large and incredibly poisonous Spindler Spider was sleeping there, curled up in the neck of the bottle. It's 8 eyes were glazed over with sleep, it's hairy legs twitching. It's long, venomous pincers were slowly moving back and forth. Nico could clearly see and count all nine of the yellow spots on its back. The spider twitched in its sleep, and Nico clamped his hands over his mouth and pressed his back against the base of the bottle, too afraid to make a single noise. He may not have been claustrophobic anymore, but he sure was still arachnophobic. If he had hit the plastic, the noise would have woken the deadly beast.

"Not so tough now, are ya?" hissed Maurice, watching as Nico backed as far away from the spider as the bottle would allow. "Took me all night to find this little beastie. Luckily Rico here told me ahead of time that you were afraid of spiders."

Nico sent a glare in Rico's direction, and if looks could kill, Rico would have burst into flames.

Maurice stood up and brushed himself off. Looking down at Nico, he said: "I'll be back in a bit. First, I have to go get one of your little _friends_ to keep you company..." He turned to head back into the bushes, but he stopped, turning to face Rico. "You know what to do, boy." Rico nodded gravely. Maurice disappeared.

"So," said Nico, his voice quiet, "where's he going?"

"To go get his _other_ prisoner," said Rico, not making eye contact with Nico.

"Well if you're gonna be that cryptic, then at least tell me why you trapped me in a _bottle_? Don't you have any imagination? You couldn't come up with anything different, like a jar or something?" Rico didn't answer. Nico just shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. "Well, I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

"What are you doing?" asked Rico, his posture tense.

"Trying to figure out why you sided with _him_ instead of me!"

Rico was silent for a minute. "I tried to warn you. He's been watching you for the past week."

"If he's been watching me for so long, then why hasn't he tried to kill me yet?"

"He _has_ tried! Did you think it was by accident that the Branch caught fire when you were the farthest from the exit?"

Nico's eyes widened. "It was _you_?"

"Not me," said Rico, glancing up at the darkening sky. "Him."

"But you let him know when we would be farthest away from the entrance, didn't you?"

Rico looked down at his feet.

"You still didn't answer my first question," said Nico, pressing his hand against the side of the bottle, quietly so as not to wake the spider. "Why did you choose him over me?"

Rico made eye contact with Nico for the first time. His eyes were darker than the storm clouds above. "You were always the favorite brother."

"That's not true," said Nico. "I-"

Rico cut him off. "You got _everything_! All the attention, all the love... And what did I get?"

"You think you drew the short straw?" exclaimed Nico. "You have no idea-"

"That's enough..." growled Rico. "Your friends should be wondering where you are by now." With an evil smile, he put Nico's bottle cap on his own head. "Don't worry about a thing," he said in Nico's voice.

Nico's eyes widened, but before he could say anything to stop him, Rico took off into the stormy sky, back towards the Lagoon, leaving Nico trapped in a bottle for the third time in his life.

Sighing, Nico sat down. He looked up at the roof of the bottle, tracing the patterned lines with his finger. He traced it all the way down to the base of the bottle when he realized something: the lines didn't match up. Sitting up on his knees, he looked a bit closer at the base of the bottle. None of the lines matched up! The base of the bottle was on wrong. Looking closer, Nico could see where the bottle had been cut, probably to get him in. If he looked even closer, he could see the tape holding it on.

_This shouldn't take that long,_ thought Nico, smiling to himself. He started to saw through the tape with his talons.

* * *

><p>Pedro was in the Lagoon, helping put the stage together. He could hear the wind howling outside of the tarp. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone enter. Looking over, he saw that it was Blu.<p>

"Yo Blu!" Pedro called, waving to Blu. The Macaw waved back and made his way over to Pedro.

"This place looks great!" exclaimed Blu.

"Thanks," said Pedro, smiling and looking around at the nearly completed Lagoon. He then turned his attention back to Blu. "So what are ya doin' here?"

"Um... well... Jewel kicked me out of the hollow. She said she wanted to spend more 'family time' with the kids..." mumbled Blu.

"That's rough, man," said Pedro, sympathetically patting Blu on the back. "Happened to Ralfy this mornin'."

As if on cue, Rafael walked up. "Hey Blu... You got kicked out too?"

"Yep."

"Did they plan that or something?" asked Pedro.

Blu just shrugged.

A second later, another bird shouted at Rafael to come help them move something. Blu went with him to help.

Pedro turned back to what he had been doing when another bird entered the club. Pedro looked over and saw Nico, standing by the entrance, looking around.

"Hey Nico! Over here!" Pedro yelled. Nico spotted him and flew over.

"The place looks great!" exclaimed Nico.

"Thanks," said Pedro. "So um... I didn't know you had a nephew..."

"I didn't tell you I had a sister?"

"No..."

"Oh... I have a sister, and she has a son."

"Good to know," said Pedro, nodding. He then picked up a large pile of rope segments that was laying on the floor. The pieces of rope were about an inch long, and they were all different colors. "Can you help me out with this?"

"Sure," said the canary, taking half of the rope. "What do ya want me to do?"

"Okay, ya see those nails?" asked Pedro, pointing to different locations around the stage. The canary nodded. "Just hang a couple strings from each nail to make it more colorful."

"Got it," said Nico.

"Thanks," said Pedro, slapping Nico's shoulder. He picked up his pile of string again and started to head to the nearest nail, but he stopped. He played the last minute over again in his head, realizing that he had just slapped Nico's bad shoulder. But... Nico didn't react...

Pedro looked over at Nico. The canary had the strings thrown over his right shoulder as he walked to the nearest nail. Pedro watched as the canary reached the nail and set down the pile of string. Then continued watching as Nico draped the strings over the nails, using his _right_ hand.

Pedro narrowed his eyes. Either Nico's shoulder had miraculously healed and he had spontaneously become right-handed, or there was something going on here.

He watched as "Nico" finished stringing up all the string and started to make his way to the back of the stage, where Pedro was. Pedro hurriedly tossed a bunch of strings into the air; most of them landed on a nail. He picked up more and just started to fix the other strings when Nico came around the corner.

"Hey Nico, got any extra string?" asked Pedro.

"Yeah," said Nico, dropping his pile of extras next to Pedro. "Why do we need to decorate the back of the stage anyways? It's not like anyone back here is gonna really care..."

_I'm sure the real Nico would care,_ thought Pedro. Instead of saying that, he just shrugged. "Ernie told me to do the _whole_ stage..."

They finished the entire back of the stage a few minutes later. "How 'bout you take the side and I'll take the front," said Pedro.

"Sounds good," said the canary.

"I'll go get more string," said Pedro, heading back into the shadows of the tarp, where an insanely large pile of multicolored string was hidden. He took a large armful and glanced over his shoulder, watching as Nico went around to the side. As soon as he was out of view, Pedro dropped the pile and looked around.

Suddenly, something caught his eye. There was a small, common spider sitting on the wall. Pedro clamped his hands over his mouth, trying to contain his arachnophobia. Suddenly, and idea occurred to him. He gulped, trying to force his arachnophobia down as he reached forward and picked up the spider. He quickly put it on the pile of string. The tiny spider crawled into the pile, but Pedro could still see it. He gingerly picked up the pile as if it were explosive and quickly carried it over to Nico, placing it at his feet. "There's yours..." He then slowly walked back over to the pile of grab his own chunk of string.

As he gathered his own string in his arms, he looked over his shoulder. The canary was already hanging up the string. It wouldn't be long now...

After stalling for a few minutes, Pedro finally picked up his small pile of string and started to carry it around to the front of the stage. Just as he passed Nico, the canary picked up the string that the spider had latched itself to. Nico clearly saw the spider, but he didn't scream. He didn't even drop the string. He casually flicked the string, sending the spider flying off into the distance.

_That's not Nico..._ But still, he _had_ to be sure.

"Hey!" exclaimed Pedro. The canary jumped nearly a foot in the air, whipping around to see Pedro standing right behind him.

"D-dude!" exclaimed the canary, clutching his chest as if he were about to have a heart attack. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Pedro forced himself to laugh, as if he had been sneaking up on the canary for the soul purpose of scaring him. "Sorry bro, but you should have seen your face!" He continued laughing. The canary chuckled nervously.

After a minute of really convincing fake laughter, Pedro stood up and took a deep breath. He then looked at the canary as if he just noticed something. "What's that on your bottle cap?"

"What?" asked the canary, taking off the metal bottle cap. There was nothing on it. However, before he could say anything, he found himself pinned to the floor by none other than Pedro.

"WHERE'S THE REAL NICO!" shouted Pedro, taking the bottle cap from Rico.

A few feet away, Rafael and Blu heard Pedro shout. They rounded the corner to see what looked like Pedro pressing his knee into Nico's spine to keep him on the ground.

"Pedro, what are you doing?" exclaimed Rafael.

"This isn't Nico!" exclaimed Pedro.

Blu and Rafael really looked at the canary Pedro was pinning to the floor. He had made no effort to deny anything; he only glared at Pedro.

"H-how did you know?" asked Blu.

Pedro smiled. "He doesn't have hat hair," he said, gesturing to the feathers on Rico's head. They were standing up instead of laying flat.

Blu and Rafael gasped.

"So if that's Rico... where's Nico?" asked Blu.

Pedro glared back down at Rico. Rafael and Blu stepped up and also glared down the canary.

Rico just gulped.

_Busted..._

* * *

><p>Nico had cut through half of the tape by now, creating a small semicircular opening on the bottom of the base. He would have to squirm through, but if he was lucky, he would be able to squirm out before the spider woke up and before Maurice returned.<p>

Nico glanced back at the spider. It was facing away from him, so he couldn't tell if it was awake or not. Still, he had to take the chance and get out. If he managed to get his neck out, then he would be safe. The poison was weak, and the only way it would be fatal was if the spider bit him on the back of the neck.

Nico slid his fingers into the small gap. Hopefully, the plastic would bend, and he wouldn't get cut by the sharp edge. Closing his eyes, Nico laid down on his stomach and pushed his head through the gap. The plastic bent, and his head was free. He pulled his arms and shoulders through and immediately felt a lot safer. Even if that spider bit him now, he wouldn't die.

Gripping the ground in front of him, Nico pulled himself out a bit more so that only his legs were trapped. Now that the world wasn't so muted, he could hear the thunderous roar of Eternity Falls, closer than usual. He realized that the clearing he was in was a lot smaller than the first one he had been trapped in, and it was also a lot closer to Eternity Falls. This time he could actually see the water and feel the mist.

Nico started to pull his legs out of the bottle, but he stopped. The bottle seemed to be _moving_...

Nico slowly looked over his shoulder, back towards the bottle. He swore his heart stopped. The spider was wide awake, standing in the neck of the bottle, hungrily eying Nico's feet. Nico couldn't help it. He panicked. As fast as he could, he yanked his legs out of the bottle.

His right leg came out. His left foot got stuck. Screaming and trying to scramble away, Nico started kicking at the bottle with his free foot. The spider reared up and sprinted right at Nico's foot. Nico screamed and closed his eyes...

...only to have someone behind him grab his shoulders and pull him free of the bottle just as the spider rammed into the base, trapped.

Nico opened his eyes as he was helped to his feet. Turning around, he came face to face with Pedro. Ready to collapse with relief, Nico hugged Pedro for all he was worth.

"It's alright," whispered Pedro, rubbing Nico's back to try and stop his trembling. "You're safe now."

Nico nodded and stepped back, taking a deep, shuddering breath. Pedro handed Nico his bottle cap, and Nico put it back on his head. "H-how did you f-find me?" asked Nico.

Pedro gestured over his shoulder, and Nico finally took notice of Blu and Rafael standing there. Clutched in Rafael's talons was Rico.

Nico's eyes narrowed. "Rico..." he growled.

"Nice to see you're alive, _brother_," snarled Rico.

"Well there's something new," said Nico, standing in front of Rico. "If you lie when you're angry, you don't stutter."

A bolt of lightning illuminated the sky and the wind started to blow harder. The sudden gust of wind made Rafael start to lose his balance, and his grip loosened on Rico.

Rico took that opportunity to lunge at Nico, escaping from Rafael's grip. The two canaries tumbled to the ground, trying to pin each other down. When they fell, Nico's bottle cap fell off and landed at Pedro's feet.

"Hey! Knock it off!" exclaimed Pedro, hurriedly pulling the two canaries apart. Blu grabbed one and Rafael grabbed the other, but the damage had already been done. It was now impossible to tell which canary was Nico and which one was Rico. They were both covered in mud, struggling to get free, and they both had the same murderous expression on their faces. Even Pedro couldn't tell which was which.

"Uh oh..." muttered Blu, looking between the two canaries.

The canary in Blu's grip looked up at him. "Uh, Blu, you can let go now."

"Don't listen to him!" shouted the other canary. Even their voices sounded the same now! "He's trying to trick you!"

"I don't need to trick anyone!" exclaimed the first canary. "I'm the real Nico!"

"Stop!" exclaimed Pedro. Everyone looked at him. "There's only one way to know for sure..."

"Yeah, there is," said Rafael. "The real Nico has a scar under his left wing."

"Yeah, but you'd need to let them both go to see it," said Pedro. "There's another way..."

Pedro slowly began pacing back and forth, holding Nico's bottle cap behind his back. Suddenly, he pointed to the canary in Blu's grasp. "What's your favorite human food?"

"Spaghetti," said the canary, thrown a bit by the sudden question.

Pedro then spun around to the other canary. "What does Juan do?"

"Why are you bringing my son into this?" asked Rafael.

"He eats people's feathers," said the canary, ignoring Rafael, looking about as surprised as everyone else.

Pedro spun around again. "What was the name of the spider?"

"Spindler spider," said the canary in Blu's grasp, starting to catch on. Pedro was asking questions that only the _real_ Nico could answer.

Pedro whipped around again. "Where is the stick?"

"At the bottom of the lake."

Once again, Pedro turned around to face the canary in Blu's grasp, starting to get dizzy from all the spinning. "What does a Lorca look like?"

The canary smiled a bit. "An onion."

Pedro's eyes widened a bit, and he hesitated for a moment before slowly turning around to face the canary in Rafael's grasp.

"Righty or lefty?"

"L-lefty..."

_He knows..._ thought both canaries.

Pedro turned around again. "What color was the leash you borrowed from Luiz?"

"Black."

Pedro smiled. Just to make sure, he turned around to face the nervous-looking canary being held back by Rafael.

"What was the song that saved Nico's life?"

Rico opened his mouth, but no answer came out. He didn't need to answer. The _real_ Nico started to whistle the beginning of "Fly Love," the song that Roberto had used to get Pedro's attention by the waterfall a month ago.

Blu let go of Nico, and Rafael tightened his grip on Rico.

"Good work," said Nico as Pedro handed him his bottle cap.

"Really, it was nothing," said Pedro, faking modesty.

Nico started to say something, but he stopped and turned to face Blu. "You can go home if you want," he said. "I think we can handle it from here."

"Really?" asked Blu. "A-are you guys sure?"

"Chill, Blu!" exclaimed Pedro. "It's all good."

"O-okay then... I guess I'll stop by tomorrow..." With that, Blu turned and took off.

"So..." said Pedro, looking at Rico, "what are we gonna do 'bout him?"

"I've got an idea," said Nico, "but we'll need to find some rope and the first boat back to the Canary Islands..."

"You're still keeping secrets, little brother." Rico's voice rang out loud and clear across the small clearing.

"I... I don't know w-what you're t-talking about," muttered Nico, slowly turning away so that no one could see his face.

"I know you haven't told them why you get sick so often," Rico continued. "You think it'll make you look even more weak and helpless than you already are..."

"It was an accident," growled Nico. "It wasn't my fault."

"Of course it wasn't," said Rico, his voice venomous. "After all, you couldn't help being stillborn..."

Everything went completely silent. Even the wind seemed to stop for a moment. Nico stood there, trembling with rage. He took a deep breath... and then shot himself across the clearing, right at Rico.

Rico had been expecting this. As soon as Rafael jumped back to avoid Nico, Rico took off straight up into the air, and Nico grabbed thin air. Without hesitation, Nico followed Rico, chasing him up into the storm clouds.

Down below, Pedro and Rafael started to follow them up into the clouds. Suddenly, Rafael stopped right after they passed the tree line, and Pedro ran into him.

"What!" exclaimed Pedro.

"They're going too high," said Rafael, looking up at the two canaries disappearing into the clouds. "They're gonna pass out from lack of oxygen. We should probably stay down here to catch them."

Reluctantly, Pedro nodded.

* * *

><p>Nico easily caught up with Rico and tackled him in midair. Rico rammed him back and continued flying higher. Nico continued the chase.<p>

Moments later, he caught up with Rico again. This time, Rico turned and fought back. They both swiped at each other with their talons, all the while getting higher and higher. The air was thin and electric, making it hard to breathe.

Nico took a swipe at Rico's face, leaving three long thin cuts across his right eye. Rico tumbled back a bit, and Nico flew straight at him. However, Rico recovered in time to see Nico coming. He shot up into the air and turned, sticking out his talons, leaving three long ragged scratches on Nico's back.

Right at that moment, Nico flashed back to the nightmare he had had a couple days ago. He knew who his phantom attacker was now.

Nico soared after Rico, who seemed to be slowing down. The air was getting thinner and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. Soon, both canaries were gasping for breath. Their fighting had become lethargic and sloppy. Nico started to get tunnel vision, and moments later, he felt himself falling.

Both canaries lost consciousness at the same time, and they both started to fall back down through the clouds.

They didn't fall for long. As they reached an altitude with enough air to breathe, Nico's eyes fluttered open. He gasped for breath and spread his wings, stopping his fall. 10 feet away from him, Rico did the same. They were in the thickest part of the storm; the wind was whipping violently around them. The air was alive with electricity.

Nico hovered in place for a moment before making eye contact with Rico. Nico narrowed his eyes, remembering what had happened only minutes ago. Without another thought, both canaries charged at each other head on.

The resulting collision sent them both flying backwards, putting a good 15 foot distance between them.

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of white light and an earsplitting _crack_ as lightning ripped through the sky. Nico didn't even have a chance to scream before everything went black.

* * *

><p>Pedro woke up on the ground a few minutes later. He and Rafael had been hovering near the tree line, about 50 feet apart, when a bolt of lightning had struck the ground right between them. The resulting shock had knocked him out.<p>

Standing up, Pedro looked around. His hearing was starting to come back to him, along with his sense of direction. Looking around, he saw the bushes a few feet away from him moving. Rafael stumbled out of them.

"Pedro, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," said Pedro. "Nothing's broken or burnt. You?"

"Fine..."

Suddenly, Pedro's eyes widened. "Where's Nico...?" Pedro looked up at the trees for an answer. That was when he saw that one of the trees was on fire. He quickly made his way towards that one, knowing that that had been the one struck by lightning.

After a minute, he found the clearing that they had been in earlier. What he saw made him gasp.

Nico and Rico lay in the clearing, neither of them moving. They were both severely burnt from the lightning and cut up from falling through the trees. Nico's bottle cap was lying by his side, split into two pieces, still live with electricity.

At that moment, Rafael came up behind Pedro, gasping at what he saw. Pedro started to take a step into the clearing, but a loud cracking noise from above stopped him. Looking up, Pedro and Rafael saw a large, burning tree branch snap off and fall straight down towards them. They tried to dive out of the way, but it was too late. The smaller branches on the limb dug into the ground around them, caging them in. Pedro cried out in pain as one of the smaller branches hit his left leg, twisting his ankle. Rafael started trying to lift the branch so that they could get out.

Across the clearing, Rico stirred. He slowly sat up, grabbing his aching head. After a moment, his vision cleared. That was when he saw Nico. All the color drained from his face and he quickly crawled to his unresponsive brother.

"Nico!" he gasped, grabbing his brother by the shoulders. Nico didn't respond. "C'mon Nico, wake up!" he exclaimed, shaking him slightly. Again, nothing.

Trembling, Rico carefully picked his brother up and laid his head on Nico's chest, listening for a heartbeat.

Nothing.

Nico didn't have a heartbeat. He was gone.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Well, I think I'll stop writing right there. I told you guys this chapter would be shocking. Literally! And don't bother wondering what a "Lorca" is. I'll explain it in my next story._

_Happy New Year! See y'all in 2012 (WHERE THE WORLD WILL **NOT** END!)_

_What a chapter to end the year with, right?_


	12. Friends, Foes, and Heroes

_A/N: Hey, would you look at that! My first update of the new year! Sorry 'bout that cliff hanger at the end. XD I love torturing you guys. Before we get started, yes, I admit, I did get rid of Blu just to even the odds. You'll see why. Oh... yes, you'll see... Muahahahahaha!_

* * *

><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

"Oh god..." gasped Rico, staring down at the body of his brother.

"NICO!" came a cry from across the clearing. Looking up, Rico saw Pedro and Rafael trying to break free of their prison. Rafael was struggling to lift the branch, and Pedro was hacking away at the smaller branches.

Looking back down at his brother, Rico checked for a heartbeat. Again, nothing.

"Oh god no, this can't be happening," Rico gasped. Suddenly, he heard a small crackling noise to his left. Looking over, Rico saw Nico's broken bottle cap. His eyes widened when he saw that it was still jumping with electricity. Quickly laying the body down, Rico grabbed two nearby leaves that had been broken free by their fall. He then leaned over and grabbed the two halves of the bottle cap, using the leaves as insulators. Then, leaning over Nico, he rubbed the halves together, building up the charge.

Right at that moment, Rafael managed to lift the branch enough for Pedro to slip out. He started to fly across the clearing towards the twins.

"CLEAR!" shouted Rico. The then pushed the two halves of the bottle cap against Nico's chest. There was a loud _zap_ and Nico's body convulsed.

Nico sat bolt upright with a loud scream before falling back to the ground, his eyes wide and his heart fluttering in his chest. Rico dropped the bottle cap halves and scooted backwards as Pedro rocketed down next to Nico.

"YOU'RE ALIVE! _YOU'RE ALIVE!_" shouted Pedro, hugging Nico so hard that he nearly broke whichever ribs Nico hadn't broken during the fall. Nico hissed in pain, and Pedro quickly let go of him, only keeping a hand on his shoulder to keep him from falling backwards.

At that moment, Rafael managed to get out from under the branch, only suffering from minor burns on his wings and back. He quickly made his way over to them. "Nico, are you okay?" he exclaimed.

Nico moaned and rubbed his chest, where two new burns from the bottle cap defibrillator had appeared. "What happened...?" he whispered, trembling. His breathing was ragged, almost as if he was having trouble getting air. The cuts on his back were bleeding, and so were two of his burns; one above his right eye, and one on the side of his neck. His eyes were glassy and distant.

That was when he saw his beloved bottle cap. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BOTTLE CAP?" He quickly picked up the two pieces and tried to put them back together, as if matching up the edges would create a magical bond or something that would keep the two halves together.

"Nico," whispered Pedro, gently taking the bottle cap pieces and setting them down, "you just got struck by lightning... Y-you were dead..."

Nico looked up at Pedro, his eyes wide and sad. "I-I was... d-dead...?" Suddenly, his eyes snapped back into focus. "Oh my god... T-those n-n-nightmares... t-they w-w-were... r-real...?" He started shaking even harder, like he was ready to burst into tears at any second.

"Shh, it's okay," whispered Pedro, gently hugging the frazzled canary to try and calm him down. "You're okay. They were just nightmares. Take a deep breath and calm down..."

Nico tried to take a deep breath, but he winced. "That hurts..." he mumbled, clutching his chest.

"Either way, it's a good thing," said Pedro. "If you can feel pain, it means you're still alive."

"That's deep, man," said Rafael. Nico laughed a bit, but winced again. "Maybe we should get you to the Sanctuary. I think you need a bit of help."

Nico nodded a bit, but his eyes widened as if he just remembered something. "Wait... If I was dead, then... how am I alive now?"

"You've got your brother to thank for that," said Pedro, gesturing to Rico. The other canary was standing near the edge of the clearing, his hand over his right eye to try and staunch the bleeding.

"Rico?"

Rico looked up when he heard Nico say his name. Slowly, he walked back over to where Nico was sitting. "Yeah...?" he whispered, looking nervous and sad.

Nico smiled a bit. "Thanks for saving my life."

Rico looked back down at his feet. "It's my fault you died in the first place," he whispered.

"No it wasn't," said Nico. "It's lightning; it's random. It could have hit either one of us..."

"That's not what I was talking about..."

Nico's eyes widened a bit as he realized that Rico was referring to what started the whole fight to begin with. "Oh... B-but that was still just an accident..."

Rico just sighed and looked down.

Nico sighed and started to stand up. "Look, Rico, I- WHOA!" Nico managed to get his feet under him, but he immediately fell forward. Rico caught him before he fell and slowly lowered him back into a sitting position.

"Nico, what's wrong?" gasped Pedro, right back at Nico's side.

"I... I don't know... I can't..." Nico looked down at his legs. He tried to move his feet, but nothing happened except for a slight twitch. His eyes widened and he quickly reached out and grabbed his leg. He could barely feel anything. "Oh no..."

He had been paralyzed by the lightning strike. His nightmares were coming true...

Slowly, Nico looked up at Pedro, his eyes wide and scared. "Pedro... do you remember that first nightmare I told you about...?"

Pedro's eyes widened and he silently gasped, knowing _exactly_ what Nico was talking about. Above them, lightning flashed through the sky and rain started to fall. It started with only a few drops of water, but it was getting stronger, and would soon turn into a downpour. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"You... you c-can't feel anything at all...?" whispered Pedro.

Nico shook his head. "I... I can feel a little... but not much... Can't move..." He started shaking even harder than before, and the rain didn't help.

"Okay, just... j-just calm down... Nobody freak out!" said Rafael. "Nico, you still have some feeling in your legs?"

Nico nodded slowly.

"That's good. It means you're not _completely_ paralyzed. It's probably just temporary," said Rafael, putting his large wing around Nico's small shoulders.

"Still, we should probably get you out of here," said Pedro.

Nico nodded. "Agreed."

Pedro slipped one wing under Nico's wing and hoisted him to his feet. Nico leaned heavily on his friend to keep from falling over his useless legs. However, before they could do anything else, the bushes across the clearing rustled.

Pedro gasped and quickly handed Nico off to Rico, who was still bleeding. "Stay out of sight," he whispered. Rico nodded and quickly dragged his brother into the bushes. They were out of sight, but they could still see what was going on.

Rafael and Pedro turned to face the rustling bush. They slowly backed into the center of the clearing. Suddenly, something was thrown from the bushes. It landed in a heap, totally limp. Pedro's eyes widened. He recognized the brown-furred mammal that lay on the ground, a pool of blood seeping out from under it.

Slowly, Pedro limped forward and rolled the monkey over on it's back. "Roberto?"

Roberto moaned and opened his swollen eyes as much as he could. A small smile crept onto his bloody face when he recognized Pedro. Taking in Roberto's condition, Pedro was shocked to see multiple slashes and bruises all over the marmoset's body. Roberto was breathing in shallow gasps, as if there was something on his chest preventing him from getting air. It was probably because he had some broken ribs. Pedro could actually see where one of the ribs had fractured; the bone was poking through the skin. Both of Roberto's legs were bent at odd angles, broken.

"Who did this to you...?" breathed Pedro, completely horrified.

Roberto closed his eyes. "Run..." he gasped. "He's still alive... Run..." He went completely limp.

"Running won't do you any good," growled a voice from behind them. Slowly, Pedro and Rafael turned around. Maurice stood right behind them, dagger in hand.

Pedro's eyes widened. "Oh shit..."

Maurice looked around the clearing, obviously searching for Nico. His eye landed on the burning branch at the edge of the clearing, and the broken bottle cap, lying next to a puddle of Nico's blood. "Looks like something got to him before I did..." Maurice sounded slightly disappointed.

Pedro snarled at him, and Rafael slowly picked up a rock, hiding it behind his back.

"Don't be angry," said Maurice, not taking his eye off of the pool of blood. "You and I both know that he isn't actually dead yet."

Pedro tore his eyes from Maurice's hideous face and looked to where Maurice was looking. Pedro's eyes widened. There was a thin trail of blood in the soft mud, along with footprints.

Maurice slowly turned and faced the bush where Nico and Rico were hiding. Rico's hand was clamped firmly over Nico's mouth, still there after muffling the scream that had started to escape when he saw Roberto. Now, Rico started to slowly back up, dragging his half-conscious brother with him.

Maurice took a step forward, but Pedro didn't miss a beat. He launched himself at Maurice's leg and bit down hard. Maurice yelped and started swinging his leg, trying to fling Pedro off. The cardinal didn't budge.

At that moment, Rafael came at Maurice with his rock. Maurice must have heard him, because he turned around and clobbered Rafael right across the face. Rafael flew backwards through the air and hit the ground unconscious.

"Uh oh..." muttered Rico. He quickly laid Nico down and started to leave, but Nico's voice stopped him.

"What are you doing...?" moaned Nico, his eyes barely open.

"For the first time in my life, I'm doing something right." Rico turned and rocketed out of the bushes, straight at Maurice. The canary hit the marmoset dead on. Maurice stumbled and fell, Pedro hopping off of his leg to avoid being crushed.

Maurice jumped back to his feet. He swung his foot at the two birds. Rico managed to dive out of the way in time. Pedro wasn't so lucky. The kick sent him flying _through_ the bushes, closer to the roaring waterfall. Rico hurriedly flew in the direction of the waterfall, trying to keep his eye on Pedro and lure Maurice away from Nico. It worked. Maurice sprinted after the canary.

Rico burst through the bushes and skidded to a stop. Right in front of him was a 10 foot cliff. Below that was the roaring waterfall. Pedro lay face-down on the ground near the edge of the bushes. Rico started to move over to him, but he was roughly grabbed from behind.

Maurice tightened his grip around the canary. Rico struggled to breathe as Maurice's grip got tighter.

"You really are a traitor, aren't you?" growled Maurice, tightening his grip further. Rico made a strangled gasping noise. "First you betray your own brother, and now you've betrayed me. You'll pay for that. Oh yes, you'll pay..."

Maurice tensed his arms, ready to twist his wrists and snap the canary's spine.

Someone tapped on his left shoulder.

Maurice turned his head to see who it was. His eye widened a bit when he saw a shaken, bloody canary hovering right in front of his face.

"Don't touch my brother," growled Nico. He then punched Maurice as hard as he could in his good eye.

Maurice howled in pain and dropped Rico, who quickly staggered back towards Nico and the now conscious Pedro. Nico had regained enough feeling in his legs to keep them stiff, allowing him to stand, so he landed. Maurice stumbled backwards towards the cliff.

"Shove him on three," Nico frantically whispered.

"Three!" exclaimed Pedro. The three small birds charged right at Maurice, ready to knock him off the cliff and into the water.

Before they had a chance to react, however, Maurice swung his arms out. There was a loud _thump_ as his arms made contact, and Pedro and Rico were on the ground where they had started.

Pedro quickly shook his eyes clear of the stars he was seeing from that last hit. His first though: Where is Nico?

Jumping to their feet, Pedro and Rico faced Maurice. The marmoset was smiling an evil smile. He was holding Nico with one hand, his tight grip aggravating Nico's broken ribs. Nico wasn't struggling, however, because Maurice's other hand was holding the dagger, which was currently pressed against Nico's throat.

"Take one more step and I'll kill him. Right here, right now," growled Maurice. He pressed the blade a little bit harder, and a trickle of Nico's blood ran down the knife. The rain intensified, making Nico's blood run for a more grotesque sight.

Rico gulped before speaking up. "This wasn't part of the deal!" he exclaimed. "You said you wouldn't hurt him!"

"Here's the thing," snarled Maurice. "I lied." Rico started to say something, but Maurice cut him off. "And yes, I _did_ mean for the fire to get that big; and no, that spider actually _was_ poisonous."

Rico's eyes widened and his jaw dropped a bit. Nico coughed a bit, and blood came out of his mouth.

"Wait, what's going on?" Pedro shouted over the rain and the roar of the waterfall.

"We had a deal," Rico shouted at Maurice, ignoring Pedro.

"Deals can be broken," laughed the marmoset. "And so can necks. Oh, how I love the sound of bones cracking..." When he said this, he looked at Nico and tightened his grip on Nico's broken ribcage. Nico whimpered in pain.

Rico and Pedro lunged at the same time. Pedro took out Maurice's left leg, and Rico took out his right. Maurice yelped in shock and let go of Nico and the knife. He stumbled backwards a bit too far. The unstable wet ground gave out beneath him. He fell in a way that his upper body hit the ground, and he managed to hold on for a second before he started to lose his grip on the wet ground.

Before they could scramble out of the way, Maurice reached out and grabbed the leg of the bird closest to him. Nico's.

Maurice's grip failed, and he started to fall, dragging Nico down with him.

"**NO!**" shouted Pedro and Rico at the same time. They both lunged. Rico was closer. He grabbed Nico's outstretched wings, but the weight of Maurice was too much. Rico fell over the edge with his brother. Pedro lunged and grabbed at Rico's foot.

It was too late. Rico was just out of range. Pedro watched in complete horror as Maurice, Rico, and Nico splashed into the roaring waters below. Pedro saw Nico resurface for one nanosecond before he was pulled back under by the current and thrown over the Falls.

Pedro screamed, but there was no one left to hear it.

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><p><em>AN: Well lookie here. Another cliff hanger? I'm on fire! =D_

_*gasp* Pedro said the S word? Well... wouldn't you...?_

_Okay, I want you all to know that I love you all, and that the reviews you leave make me update faster. Hint, hint. _


	13. Aftermath

_A/N: Remember my rule: never believe anyone is dead unless you see the body. ;)_

_**Edit description at bottom.**_

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><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

Pedro didn't know how long he screamed; his mind could barely handle it. His best friend had just been thrown over a waterfall!

Finally, Pedro's scream died out as he ran out of breath. Gasping for air, he slowly stood up. His bad leg hurt, he was dizzy and nauseous, and if he hadn't heard someone coming up behind him, he would have vomited.

Turning around, Pedro saw Rafael, one wing holding his bleeding head, the other wing keeping the unconscious Roberto from falling to the ground.

"Pedro? What happened?" he asked.

Pedro couldn't speak. All he could do was point a shaky finger at the roaring water below, a look of crushing despair in his glassy eyes.

Rafael's eyes widened and he quickly set Roberto down, leaning him against a rock. "We'll be right back," he told the little marmoset. "Just keep breathing." Roberto weakly nodded, not opening his eyes.

Rafael turned to Pedro. "Let's go." Rafael spread his wings and hovered in midair, testing his ability to stay airborne. He was still dizzy and his head still hurt, but he could still fly straight. He turned, expecting to see Pedro right behind him, but the cardinal was still rooted to the ground, staring into the water. He was standing a little too close to the edge for comfort.

"Pedro!" exclaimed Rafael. Pedro's teary eyes slowly focused on Rafael. The older bird landed and gently pulled Pedro into a hug. Pedro let out a small sob. After a minute, Pedro stopped shaking and Rafael let go. Then, without a word, they both flew down the cliff face, towards the bottom of the waterfall.

When they reached the pool at the bottom of the waterfall, the first thing they noticed was the blood in the water. Pedro stood at the edge of the water, the small waves gently lapping at his feet. He watched silently as the blood in the water slowly spread. A few second later, he slowly turned away from the waterfall and vomited in a nearby bush. After he finished, he just sat there, stunned. Nico was gone. They had just got him back, and now he was gone...

"Pedro..." That was Rafael. Pedro didn't respond; he had already gone into shock.

Rafael gently put a wing on Pedro's shoulder. "Pedro..."

"Leave me alone..." whispered Pedro, his head in his hands.

"You better look..."

Pedro finally lifted his head and looked back out at the water. His jaw dropped at what he saw.

Two small canaries were dragging themselves towards the shore. One of the canaries had a bleeding cut across his eye.

"NICO! RICO!" Pedro jumped to his feet and sprinted out into the water. When he reached them, he saw that Nico was barely conscious, and Rico was practically dragging him, holding onto Nico's wing. As Pedro took Nico's other wing, he saw that Rico had a deep gash under his left wing, and Nico was barely breathing.

"W-w-what happened?" stammered Pedro. "H-how are you guys still alive?"

Rico shook his head, then winced as if the action caused him pain. "That w-waterfall had v-vines from the c-cliff in it. I g-grabbed one and s-slowed us d-down. D-don't know w-what h-happened to Maurice..." Rico winced again and grabbed the slit in side with his free wing.

"How did that happen?" asked Pedro quickly.

"H-hit the r-rocks..." Rico choked out. Suddenly, he stopped walking and collapsed into the water, holding his side in pain, the water around him turning red with blood. Pedro scrambled to keep Nico from falling too, and Rafael, who had finally shaken off his shock, ran out and picked up Rico. Pedro scooped Nico up into his arms, and they both made it towards the shore.

Pedro laid Nico down and Rafael laid Rico down. Rico tried to sit up, but he crumbled back to the ground. A large puddle of blood was forming under him.

"Try and hold still," Rafael told him as he examined the wound. Meanwhile, Pedro was trying to get Nico to wake up. The little canary was totally limp, but he was still breathing. Barely.

"C'mon, Nico..." whispered Pedro, cradling Nico's head. He could feel the blood dripping off of Nico's back.

Rafael finished examining Rico's wound and came over to Pedro. "We should probably get them to the Sanctuary. Rico got cut pretty deep. Has Nico moved yet?"

Pedro shook his head, no. "But wait, what about Roberto?"

Rafael opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out.

"Leave m-me," croaked Rico.

"What?" gasped Pedro and Rafael.

"You g-guys can't c-carry all of us," he moaned. His face had gotten much paler in the last minute, and he was losing blood at an alarming rate. "Rafael can c-carry Roberto, and P-Pedro, y-you can carry Nico. If you g-guys have t-time, you can come b-back for my b-body. After all, it's my f-fault all of this happened in the f-first p-place..."

"We're not gonna leave you here," said Pedro as he picked up Nico and gently laid him across his shoulders so as not to aggravate any wounds.

"I d-don't think you h-have a c-choice..." mumbled Rico. He tried to stand and run, but the pain and blood loss was too much for him. The second he was upright, he lost consciousness and collapsed. Rafael caught him and gently cradled him in talons.

"Let's get Roberto and get out of here," said Pedro. Rafael nodded, and they took off back up the cliff face.

When they reached the top, they found that Roberto's condition had worsened. This time he wasn't responding to anything Rafael was saying, and his wounds had almost completely stopped bleeding. Balancing on one foot, Rafael picked up Roberto and laid him across his shoulders. Pedro picked up the two halves of Nico's bottle cap.

Making sure everyone was secure, Pedro and Rafael took off towards the Bird Sanctuary. They were gone long before a dark bloody figure crawled out of the water at the bottom of Eternity Falls and quickly limped off into the jungle.

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><p><em>AN: Well well well... What will happen next? Will Nico and Rico survive their wounds, or will it be the end of the twin canaries? Why am I talking like this? I dunno... Short chapter, yeah yeah yeah, I know. Sue me. Anyways, enjoy! (And leave a review!)_

_**Edit: Well sh*t! I found a huge error regarding Nico's bottle cap. It may be a small detail, but it's important to me! So there. If you guys get the repeat update message, you'll know why. Sorry for the inconvenience!**_


	14. Secrets Revealed

_A/N: Sorry for keeping you guys in suspense. It's my job. Prepare for a twist! Remember my rule! ONWARD WITH THE STORY!_

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><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

Nico slowly opened his eyes, his entire body aching. Wherever he was, it was _bright_. Moaning, he closed his eyes again and covered his eyes with his wings, trying to block out the light that seemed to be coming from all around.

_Am I dead...?_ Nico wondered groggily. He took a deep breath, but was rewarded with a fiery stab of pain from his cracked rib. _Okay, maybe I'm not dead..._

Nico opened his eyes again, and they slowly adjusted to the harsh light. Looking around, Nico saw that he was in the Bird Sanctuary.

"HE LIVES!" shouted a voice to Nico's right. Nico looked over and saw Pedro standing there, looking too excited for his own good.

"Pedro..." muttered Nico, smiling. He sat up, and Pedro rushed forward and hugged him, careful to avoid Nico's cracked rib.

"You're not dead!" exclaimed Pedro, bouncing with happiness at the fact that his best friend had cheated death again.

"H-how long was I out?" asked Nico as Pedro let go and sat down next to him.

"Two days!" exclaimed Pedro.

"Not as bad as two weeks..." muttered Nico, rubbing his wing guiltily.

"Do you remember anything?" asked Pedro, his excitement starting to wear off.

"A little bit..." said Nico, rubbing his head. He glanced at Pedro's leg and saw that it was bandaged. "How's your leg?"

"Doesn't even hurt anymore," said Pedro, sticking his foot into the air. He put his foot down again and looked at Nico, starting to look worried. "Can you feel anything yet?"

Nico looked down at his feet and wiggled his toes. His legs still felt extremely weak, but at least he could move and feel them again. He smiled a bit, thanking the Samba Gods that the paralysis had only been temporary.

Pedro breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, but then his face turned serious. "I think ya better start explaining..."

Nico sighed and cast his eyes down at his feet.

"We're like brothers..." said Pedro. "You know everything 'bout me, so... why can't I know everything 'bout you?"

"... Where do you wanna start...?" Nico whispered, keeping his voice low even though they were in a corner with no one else around.

"Tell me how you're still alive."

Nico sighed, trying to think of a way that he could say what he needed. Finally, he just spit it out. "The only reason I'm alive is because I was born in captivity."

Pedro's jaw dropped. "W-what...?"

"Yeah... I was born in a Sanctuary in the Canary Islands. I just... wasn't exactly _alive_ when I was born. Please don't make me go into detail," said Nico, his green eyes glassy. "Rico was alive, but I wasn't. It usually happens with twins. Seriously, how many identical twins do you know?"

Pedro opened his mouth, but he drew a blank. Now that he thought about it, Nico was the only bird he knew who had an identical twin.

"My point exactly," said Nico. "I never really knew my parents. Rico and Cina were the only real family I had back there."

"So _that's_ where you learned to read..." muttered Pedro, still a little shocked at getting this much information.

"Yeah," said Nico, smiling a bit. "That's also where I learned to write, type, and pick a lock."

"No way!" exclaimed Pedro. "You've gotta teach me how to- wait... Gettin' off subject here... W-when did you leave?"

"As soon as I was strong enough to fend for myself," said Nico. "By that time, I had a niece and a nephew. Said goodbye and got on a boat. Rico didn't really want me to leave..."

"Where'd ya go?" asked Pedro.

"Everywhere," said Nico, shrugging. "Took me a while to get to Rio, but I'm glad I stayed, especially after I met you at the Branch."

"Even after what happened with the bottle?"

Nico nodded. "Even after that."

"So... why were you freakin' out when Rico came here?"

"I was sure he was gonna try and bring me back home," said Nico, looking away guiltily. "Guess I was right to be paranoid. Then the nightmares started as soon as he got here, and I kept trying to avoid having to talk to him... I didn't want those nightmares to come true..."

"But they did!" exclaimed Pedro. "You said so yourself!"

"When did I say that?"

Now it was Pedro's turn to look guilty. "Uh... Well, I... Has anyone ever told you that you talk in your sleep...?"

"I don't talk in my sleep!"

"Trust me, Nico, yes you do!"

Nico gulped, wondering what he could have possibly said over the years.

"Don't worry," laughed Pedro, "I won't tell anybody about that finch from Chile."

"Son of a..."

"We're gettin' off the subject again," said Pedro.

"Well... what else do ya wanna know?"

"I dunno..." said Pedro. "Do you know why Rico was working for Maurice?"

Nico shrugged. "I guess I'd have to ask him..." Suddenly, his eyes shot wide open, and he looked up at Pedro. "Where is Rico?"

"Well, I... I haven't really seen him yet..." said Pedro guiltily.

"I... I remember he got hurt..." Nico muttered to himself. He started frantically looking around, trying to spot his brother, but he ended up falling over in the process. Pedro caught him and sat him upright.

"Nico, try not to hurt yourself any more than you already have," came a voice from behind them.

Nico whipped around and saw Rico, standing on the sill of a slightly opened window. Rico fluttered down next to Nico, and the two brothers hugged.

"D'aww..." muttered Pedro.

Nico took a step back on shaky legs and looked at Rico. He could see a long red line of stitches running down Rico's left side, under his wing. The cut over Rico's eye had started to close, but Nico still felt guilty about it, the same way that Rico felt guilty about the cut on Nico's back.

"I think I better start explaining..." muttered Rico, looking away guiltily. "But it might take a while."

"I've got time," said Nico, crossing his arms over his chest. Next to him, Pedro sat down and started wishing for popcorn to manifest itself in front of him. This was going to be interesting.

"Start at the beginning," said Nico. "How did you even hear about me getting kidnapped?"

Rico looked down at his feet. "I know this is gonna sound weird, but I know a couple birds here who use their human's computer to write blogs."

Nico tilted his head to the side, a bit confused. "Yeah, that is weird."

Rico nodded. "I told him to see a doctor about it. But anyways, I was using the computer in the Sanctuary back home, and he sent me an email saying that he heard a rumor that some monkeys had kidnapped a canary in Rio. I kinda assumed that there were a few other canaries in Rio other than you, so I didn't really worry that much. But then a few days later, I found a website for _this_ Sanctuary. On the website, there's a bunch of rules and policies and stuff, but there's also a list of the birds that come in and out; what kind they are, what's wrong with them, and what probably happened to them."

"And you saw me on that list..." whispered Nico, realizing what Rico was saying.

"Ooh, a twist," narrated Pedro.

"Yeah," said Rico, ignoring Pedro's commentary. "I saw you. They even mentioned the bottle cap."

Nico's eyes widened a bit, and he remembered his bottle cap. His hands slowly went to his head, but his bottle cap wasn't there. Pedro's reaction, however, was different.

"Oh! Thanks for reminding me!" He hopped to his feet and flew off, returning a minute later. "Ta-da!" Pedro pulled Nico's bottle cap out from behind his back. Nico squealed like a little girl and snatched his bottle cap. If he looked closely, he could still see the crack, and he could see the super glue, but that didn't matter to him. He happily put his bottle cap back on his head. Rico smiled at how happy Nico looked.

"Sorry for interrupting," said Pedro, sitting back down after receiving his hug.

"Yeah, what did you do after that?" asked Nico, his attention turning back to Rico.

"I did the only thing I could think of: I came here to see for myself. I got on a boat and came here to Rio. When I could see the beach, I got a seagull's attention and asked him if he knew you. He told me that everyone knows you guys, so I asked him to go tell you that I was coming."

"You should have seen his face when he got _that_ message," Pedro muttered, rolling his eyes. Nico quickly kicked Pedro's leg, telling him to nix the commentary.

"What happened when you got here?" asked Nico.

"I flew for about 20 seconds before getting grabbed by a marmoset with one eye."

Nico and Pedro gasped.

"Wait a sec, he got you?" exclaimed Pedro.

Rico nodded. "I think he realized that I wasn't you," he gestured to Nico, "so he let go of me. But we also made a deal."

Nico's eyes narrowed. "Was that the _deal_ you were talking about at the waterfall?"

Rico nodded. "The deal was that he would try and help me scare you into coming back home."

Nico had to sit down. "_What?_ You were really willing to go that far to get me to come back?"

"How was I supposed to know that he was the monkey that kidnapped you?" Rico practically shouted. He took a deep breath to calm himself down before continuing. "He was the 'friend' I was staying with in the city. He was living in the back of a vet building or something. I dunno. But after you guys showed me around the city, he asked me to show him where your club was."

"Why would he need to ask?" wondered Pedro. "He's been there before, when Nico nailed him in the face with his bottle cap of doom."

"He said he hit his head recently and couldn't really remember where it was," explained Rico. "But I didn't exactly feel very comfortable telling him where it was..."

"Then how did he find it if you didn't tell him?" asked Nico.

"I _did_ tell him!" exclaimed Rico. "He kidnapped your monkey friend, Roberto, and tortured him, thinking he would know..."

Nico's eye twitched a little bit. "So you told him...?"

"Yeah... I told him..."

"Hold up," said Pedro. "So even after you _saw_ him torture another monkey, you still kept your deal with him?"

Rico nodded. "I was afraid if we broke our deal, he would try and kill you guys... Anyways, he was the one who put that bomb at the Branch. He told me it would just make a small fire and freak everyone out; he told me the fire was never supposed to get that big..."

"So that was why you were so nervous that day before the fire..." muttered Nico. "And we couldn't find you because you were with Maurice...?"

Again, Rico nodded. "Then that night, after the fire, I couldn't sleep, so I just hung out near the beach. Then I heard you singing, and I saw Maurice following you towards the docks, so I kinda stepped in."

"When I asked you why you came, you said you came to bring me home...?"

Rico smiled tiredly. "Then Pedro showed up and I freaked out and hid under the docks. After you guys left, I came out of my hiding spot and got tackled by Maurice. He told me that if I wanted to bring you home, that we would have to go to... _extreme_ measures...

"He told me about how you had been held captive in a bottle, so he said we could try and scare you that way. But then he thought it wouldn't be enough, and he asked if you were afraid of anything. I..."

"You told him I was afraid of spiders, so he found a Spindler Spider and told you that it wasn't poisonous...?" guessed Nico.

Rico gulped and nodded.

Pedro shook his head. "Bad Rico."

"Yeah, bad me..." muttered Rico. He turned back to Nico. "That's why I was trying to warn you to get out, but you wouldn't listen... Maurice told me that if I didn't get you to that bottle, he would come after me, and then get you guys..."

"So why did you need to take my bottle cap and impersonate me?"

"To give Maurice time to scare you. But you," he pointed at Pedro for a moment, "must be able to read minds or something because he could tell that I wasn't you..."

"It was clear as night and day," smiled Pedro smugly.

Nico nodded a bit before looking up at Rico, his eyes showing a hint of sadness. "So why did you say what you did in front of all my friends...?"

Rico sighed and sat down, looking down at his feet. "I dunno... I guess I just got so mad that you wouldn't come back home that... I just... just kinda blurted it out... You have no idea how much that's been killing me, that I said that. I'm sorry. This is all my fault! I tried to help you, but I just ended up putting you in even more danger... I'm so stupid..." Rico moaned, his head in his hands.

After a minute, Nico slowly inched forward and put his hand on Rico's shoulder. Rico looked up at his brother, his eyes watering.

Nico smiled a bit. "I forgive you..." Slowly, a small smile identical to Nico's crept onto Rico's face. Rico leaned forward and hugged his brother again.

"Well, this is really sweet and all, and I'd hate to your bubble, but Nico, we gotta do a performance soon!"

"WHAT!" shouted Nico.

"Yeah, a few days ago, I kinda promised Ernesto that we would do our new song on the Lagoon's openin' night, and nobody really actually knows about the whole Maurice thing yet, so... Do ya feel up for it?"

Nico laughed a bit and rubbed his forehead. "Pedro, I just woke up from a coma. I have a broken rib, and I can barely stand on my own. Do you really think I'm cut out for a performance?"

"No..." muttered Pedro. "So I guess I'll just have to go tell Ernesto and everyone else at the Lagoon that we can't perform because you got kidnapped and struck by lightning and thrown off a waterfall. I'm sure everyone's gonna _love_ to learn about that!"

Nico's eyes widened. "Actually, I feel fine. When do we perform?"

"Word of the day: blackmail," muttered Rico.

"So how are we gonna escape...?" muttered Pedro as he pulled the bandage off his leg, testing his weight on it. "Oh yeah, Pedro's back in business..."

Nico looked down at himself. His feathers were a little singed, but there was no bandage. Reaching behind his back, he felt that the cuts had already scabbed over, making them nearly invisible under his feathers. The burns on his chest from the defibrillators had already faded, and the burns above his eye and on his neck had also faded enough to be invisible. As long as he didn't have to dance or move his legs too much, he would be fine.

"Okay, so we have a few hours before the party starts at sunset," said Pedro, "so that should give us time to get out of here without Linda seeing."

"You know if she catches us, she's gonna-"

The window behind them shattered, cutting Nico off. Two marmosets tumbled through the window, fighting. The three birds shot up into the air; Nico screamed bloody murder when as he recognized the one-eyed marmoset.

"Here, quick!" exclaimed Rico, flying out the window as shouting echoed through the Sanctuary.

Nico and Pedro followed Rico, but Nico managed to hear a little bit of what the other marmoset was shouting at Maurice: "_You almost killed him! He almost died because of you!_"

They landed in a tree nearby. Nico could hear Linda inside, yelling at Tulio to "grab that cage." A moment later, the sound of fighting stopped, and the other marmoset threw himself through the window, landing in the very tree that Nico, Pedro, and Rico were hiding. The monkey tried to dash off, but Nico recognized him.

"Miguel?"

The marmoset stopped dead in his tracks and looked up at the three birds. He squinted at them a bit as if he didn't remember them, but suddenly, his eyes widened. "Y-you were the canary from the bottle!"

"And you were the monkey that committed suicide by jumpin' over the falls!" exclaimed Pedro as Miguel climbed up to their level. There was something different about the monkey; something about his eyes and the long scar running down his face and neck.

"The falls...?" mumbled the monkey, screwing his face up in concentration. "I don't remember falling in a waterfall..."

Nico and Pedro's eyes widened as they realized what had happened: after Miguel had jumped over the falls, he had hit his head on one of the rocks and gotten amnesia. It was the only way to explain his memory loss.

"What were you fighting about?" asked Rico.

Miguel looked between Nico and Rico, blinking a little bit with confusion. He shrugged his confusion off, and sadness replaced it. "He almost killed Roberto... He tortured him and made everything inside him break!"

"But is he okay?" asked Nico frantically.

"He's alive..." said Miguel. "For now... But he's my brother! Maurice can't just take that away!"

Nico and Pedro looked at each other, understanding what Miguel was going through.

Suddenly, the door to the Sanctuary burst open, and Tulio and Linda walked out. In Tulio's hand was a cage. Inside, Maurice was violently throwing himself around, trying to break free.

"I have a friend that owns a zoo in America," Tulio told Linda. "He can take care of one more monkey."

Linda's response was drowned out by Maurice's scream of rage. He thrashed at his bars until his only eye fell on the three birds and the monkey in the tree. If looks could kill, they all would have spontaneously combusted. Maurice was too furious to even speak; he simply bellowed again; his scream loud and frightening enough to possibly give everyone, even the humans, nightmares for weeks to come.

"I'll take him into town," said Tulio as he walked off. "Dr. Felix can probably sedate him." He and Linda walked out of hearing range.

"So that's it..." muttered Nico, his eyes wide. "He's finally gone... For real this time!" Slowly, Nico smiled. His hunter was finally gone.

"I'm outta here," said Miguel, turning to leave. "I'll let ya know if anything happens to Roberto." He then disappeared.

Pedro gently put a wing around Nico's shoulder. "You're safe now..."

Nico looked over at his brother, who still looked a little phased from Maurice's screams. "So, does that mean I can stay?"

Slowly, Rico smiled. "You'll stay no matter what I say now..."

"So what are you gonna do?" Pedro asked Rico.

Rico shrugged a bit. "I'm gonna go back home. There's a boat heading back to the Canary Islands in an hour, so... I guess this is goodbye..."

"Been nice meetin' ya, bro," said Pedro, slapping Rico on the back.

Rico smiled. "You too, Pedro."

Nico stepped forward and hugged his brother. "I'm gonna miss you..."

"Promise to come visit sometime?"

"Promise..."

And with that, Rico took off into the orange sky, disappearing into the light of the setting sun.

Nico was brought back to earth when Pedro put a wing on his shoulder. "Nico..."

"Yeah Pedro...?"

"We got a party to attend..."

Nico smiled and imagined himself putting on sunglasses. "Let's rock."

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><p><em>AN: I told you not to forget my rule. Because remember, you never DID see Miguel's body! Muahahahahahaha!_

_Hope this chapter ties up a few loose ends! I also wanna thank Takara Matsudaira for giving me the idea with what to do with Maurice. I don't have a sequel planned for this yet, but there's still room for one. _

_I love you all! Only 2 more chapters to go!_


	15. Tonight Tonight

_A/N: Okay, let me clarify a little bit. Roberto and Miguel aren't genetically related; they're brothers in the way that Nico and Pedro are brothers. So I hope that clears up any confusion. The name of the song in this chapter is called "Tonight, Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae. Hope ya like!_

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><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

There was barely any room to breathe in the Lagoon. The word had spread like a virus that it would be opening that night, so almost every single bird in Rio had gathered at the secluded beach.

Nico and Pedro sat in a large tree at the edge of the Lagoon, watching the seething crowd.

"You sure you're up for this?" asked Pedro, looking over at Nico.

"If you ask me that one more time," said Nico, "I'll push you out of this tree."

"I have wings, y'know," said Pedro. "Means I can still fly."

"That's nice Pedro..."

The sun was starting to set over the ocean, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. A gentle warm breeze blew off the ocean, gently swaying the trees. The perfect evening to perform.

"Let's get down there," said Nico, "before we give Ernie a heart attack."

Pedro smiled and put on his imaginary sunglasses. He and Nico fist-bumped before flying down behind the stage, where Ernesto was pacing like the walking panic attack he was.

"Hey man," said Pedro from right behind Ernesto, making him jump, "you're an even bigger spaz than Blu!"

"Sorry, I'm nervous!" exclaimed Ernesto, peeking around the stage at the large crowd.

"Clearly..." muttered Nico.

"I haven't been this nervous since the Branch's opening night!"

"What about the night the Branch burnt down?"

Nico elbowed Pedro in the ribs. "Don't mention that!"

Ernesto started hyperventilating.

"Don't you dare pass out," said Nico. "You're not gonna want to miss our song!"

"You're right... you're right..." said Ernesto, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "You guys are... you're gonna rock, right?"

"Right!" exclaimed Pedro with an energetic thumbs-up.

"That's good, 'cause you're on!" exclaimed Ernesto, gesturing to the stage.

"You bet we are!" said Nico happily. He and Pedro turned and walked towards the stage. It was only then that Ernesto noticed the three healing cuts on Nico's back, and Pedro walking with a slight limp. He thought about saying something, but they were already through the curtain and on the stage.

* * *

><p>As soon as Nico and Pedro stepped through the curtain and onto the stage, they were met with wave after wave of cheering. Pedro started jumping around the stage, his arms in the air.<p>

"WHO'S READY TO PARTY?" he shouted at the top of his lungs. His voice was nearly drowned out by the roaring crowd.

"Let's hope nothing explodes this time 'round..." Nico whispered to himself.

Pedro looked at Nico, who smiled, ready to put on a show. With a small nod, Pedro began.

_Uno, dos, tres..._

The music began, and while Pedro danced, Nico stepped up, singing at the top of his lungs to be heard.

_It's been a really really messed up week  
><em>_Seven days of torture, seven days of bitter  
><em>_And my girlfriend went and cheated on me  
><em>_She's a de Janeiro dime but it's time for me to quit her_

_La la la, whatever  
><em>_La la la, it doesn't matter  
><em>_La la la, oh well  
><em>_La la la_

At this point, Pedro joined Nico, and they sang the chorus together.

_We're going at it tonight, tonight  
><em>_There's a party on the rooftop top of the world  
><em>_Tonight, tonight  
><em>_And we're dancing on the edge of the Hollywood sign_

_I don't know if I'll make it  
><em>_But watch how good I'll fake it  
><em>_It's all right, all right  
><em>_Tonight, Tonight_

Now, Nico stepped back and let Pedro have center stage.

_I woke up with a strange tattoo,_ Pedro sang, gesturing to a spot on his wings where Juan had ripped out some feathers.  
><em>Not sure how I got it<br>__Not a dollar in my pocket  
><em>_And it kinda looks just like you_

When he sang this, he pointed to a general area in the middle of the crowd. A female parakeet squealed and nearly passed out like a typical fangirl. Laughing, Nico joined Pedro in singing the chorus again.

_La la la, whatever  
><em>_La la la, it doesn't matter  
><em>_La la la, oh well  
><em>_La la la_

_We're going at it tonight, tonight  
><em>_There's a party on the rooftop top of the world  
><em>_Tonight, tonight  
><em>_And we're dancing on the edge of the Hollywood sign_

_I don't know if I'll make it  
><em>_But watch how good I'll fake it  
><em>_It's all right, all right  
><em>_Tonight, tonight_

_You got me singing like woah,  
><em>_Come on, ohh  
><em>_It doesn't matter, woah,  
><em>_Everybody now, ohh_

Pedro stepped up and, while dancing, sang the next part.

_Just don't stop, let's keep the beat pumpin'  
><em>_Keep the beat up, let's drop the beat down_

Now Nico stepped up and sang.

_It's my party, dance if I want to  
><em>_We can get crazy, let it all out_

_Just don't stop, let's keep the beat pumpin'  
><em>_Keep the beat up, let's drop the beat down_

Now Pedro hopped back up on his feet and continued.

_It's my party, dance if I want to  
><em>_We can get crazy, let it all out_

_It's you and me and we're runnin' this town_

Now Nico took over.

_And it's me and you and we're shakin' the ground_

Pedro joined in and they sang the next part together.

_Ain't nobody gonna tell us to go  
><em>_'Cause this is our show!_

_Everybody, woah  
><em>_Come on, ohh,  
><em>_All you animals, woah,  
><em>_Let me hear you now, ohh_

By now, the entire crowd was clapping along to the beat of the song.

_Tonight, tonight  
><em>_There's a party on the rooftop top of the world  
><em>_Tonight, tonight  
><em>_And we're dancing on the edge of the Hollywood sign_

_I don't know if I'll make it  
><em>_But watch how good I'll fake it  
><em>_It's all right, all right  
><em>_Tonight tonight_

_It's all right, all right  
><em>_Tonight, tonight  
><em>_Yeah it's all right, all right  
><em>_Tonight, tonight_

_Just singing like woah, come on, ohh  
><em>_All you party birds, woah,  
><em>_All you singletons, ohh,  
><em>_Even the white birds!_

Pedro kinda blurted out that last part, and a seagull in the back of the crowd got slightly offended.

_Just don't stop, let's keep the beat pumpin'  
><em>_Keep the beat up, let's drop the beat down  
><em>_It's my party, dance if I want to  
><em>_We can get crazy, let it all out_

_Just don't stop, let's keep the beat pumpin'  
><em>_Keep the beat up, let's drop the beat down  
><em>_It's my party, dance if I want to  
><em>_We can get crazy, let it all out..._

The music faded and was replaced by the roar of the crowd. Nico and Pedro high-fived and exited the stage with their wings in the air, still high on the adrenaline rush of a successful performance. They received high-fives, cheers, and pats on the back from everyone they walked past.

"Hey look!" exclaimed Nico, elbowing Pedro to get his attention. Pedro looked over where Nico was looking and smiled as he saw Blu and Jewel making their way through the crowd with their kids. Rey was sitting on his mother's head, and Javier and Abelina were holding onto Blu's wings to keep from being lost in the crowd.

"I can't believe you guys came!" exclaimed Nico as he and Pedro walked over to the Macaw family.

"They talked me into it," said Blu, gesturing to Jewel and the kids.

"So... are you guys okay?" asked Jewel, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening too close. They didn't have to worry though, because another singer was on stage performing.

"Did Ralfy tell ya?" asked Pedro.

"Yep..."

"Where is he anyways?"

"He's at home," said Blu. "Child number 19 hatched an hour ago."

"What did he name it?" asked Nico.

"We don't know yet," said Jewel, shrugging.

"Juan scares me," said Abelina, fluttering over to stand next to Pedro.

"Did you see the tattoo he gave me?" Pedro asked her, showing her his wing. Abelina giggled and gave Pedro a hug.

"Uncle Nico, did you really die this time?" asked Javier, his turquoise eyes wide and shining.

"Yes, Javier, I actually _did_ die this time."

"I knew it," said Javier, shooting a glance at Rey. The younger Macaw just rolled his eyes.

"_So_," said Jewel quickly, trying to change the subject, "when did you guys come up with that song?"

"As soon as I woke up," said Nico. "You guys caught that whole _"Seven days of torture"_ thing?"

"We got that, but when did your _girlfriend_ cheat on you?" asked Blu, putting air quotes around the word _girlfriend_.

Nico shrugged. "We couldn't think of anything else to rhyme it with."

"My imaginary girlfriend cheated on me," muttered Pedro.

"That's just sad..." said Nico, patting Pedro on the shoulder.

"Well, it's getting dark," said Blu. "We better head home."

"But _Daddy_..." chorused the three kids.

"No, your father is right," said Jewel, scooping up Abelina. "It's almost your bedtime. I said we could stay just to hear Uncle Nico and Uncle Pedro sing. Now it's time to go."

"We'll come by tomorrow," Nico whispered to Javier. The blue-eyed Macaw smiled and happily fluttered back over to his parent's side.

After a few more minutes, Blu and Jewel convinced their kids to come home, and Nico and Pedro remained at the Lagoon. They stayed for another hour or so before deciding to head back to the hollow.

"Crazy day, huh?" said Pedro as they flew through the forest.

"I would tell you that you could say that again, but knowing you, you probably _would_ say it again," smiled Nico.

They flew in silence until they came to the lake near their hollow.

"Hey!" came a voice from down by the lake. Nico and Pedro looked down and, by the light of the full moon, saw Miguel, waving his arms in the air.

Nico and Pedro flew down to the hyper marmoset.

"Is everything okay?" asked Nico when he landed.

Miguel nodded and smiled. "Roberto is awake, and he's going to live."

Nico and Pedro breathed a sigh of relief. "Can we go see him tomorrow?" asked Pedro.

Miguel nodded. "He's at the vet office in town. I can show you guys tomorrow."

"Sounds good," said Pedro. Miguel nodded and ran off, having nothing else to say. Nico and Pedro flew up to their hollow, each bird collapsing on their own beds.

"It's funny," said Nico as he curled up in a ball, his bottle cap in his arms.

"What?" asked Pedro, lying flat on his back, already falling asleep.

"Miguel. Just falling over a waterfall, getting amnesia, and almost having his best friend killed was enough to turn him good."

Pedro shook his head. "Monkeys are crazy."

Nico smiled and closed his eyes. His last thought before he fell asleep:

_I'm free..._

* * *

><p><em>AN: Awwwww. You guys know what this means, right? Only one more chapter left... But don't cry! I'll get the prequel posted as soon as I possibly can!_

_Also, I would like to thank EVERYONE for the 200 review! I checked, and this story is officially the most reviewed story on the Rio fandom! And it's all thanks to you guys! Y'know, the 15 of you that review this, even though there are more than 40 people following this story. That's right, I'm calling all you lurkers out! At the end of the final chapter, I'll give a list of everyone who reviewed as a personal thanks. _

_I love you all! Thanks for all your support through this entire thing!_


	16. No More Nightmares

_A/N: The final chapter of Seeing Double. It's actually... really sad... I've been working on this story for more than 8 months now... But oh well, c'est la vie. At least we've got the prequel to look forward to. I'll get that up after I update all of my other poor neglected stories. Okay, and if every single person who has this story on their alerts reviews this final chapter, then there will be 250 reviews. I swear I had a freaking asthma attack when we hit 200! I love you all, enjoy the last installment of Seeing Double._

* * *

><p><strong>Seeing Double<strong>

_He was surrounded by glass. Pushing his hands against the tinted black wall, Nico realized where he was: he was stuck in a bottle. Outside the wall of the bottle, he could see dark shadows with sharp teeth and red eyes surrounding him. Gulping, Nico pressed his back against the glass wall of the bottle, trying to put as much distance as possible between him and the shadows._

_Suddenly, a bright light drove the shadows away. Nico squinted against the light, but he opened his eyes wide when he heard a loud cracking noise. The walls of the bottle were fracturing, allowing beams of white light to pour into the darkness. Slowly, Nico reached his hand out and touched the wall. The bottle shattered and the black glass and shadows disappeared, evaporating into the sunlight._

_Looking around, Nico saw that he was sitting on the beach next to the Lagoon; he could hear the gentle crash of the waves and feel the cool sea breeze. Pedro, Rafael, Blu, Jewel, and Roberto all stood around him, smiling down at him. He could also see Rico in the distance; his brother smiled at him, waved, and disappeared into thin air. _

_Without speaking a word, Pedro stepped forward and held out his wing. Smiling, Nico took it, and Pedro pulled him to his feet. When he stood, he felt invisible dark hands that he hadn't known the presence of moments ago release him. He felt free for the first time in a month. Finally, he could breathe easy, knowing that he was safe once and for all._

_Smiling, Nico hugged Pedro. If it weren't for Pedro and all his friends, he would have been dead weeks ago, from sickness or from the turmoil in his own mind. His depression – his fear – was gone. The dark cloud that had been hanging over his head ever since he awoke had disappeared. He was finally happy. He was finally safe._

* * *

><p>Nico slowly cracked his eyes open. The light of the early dawn was streaming weakly into the small hollow. Across the hollow, Pedro was sleeping soundly, curled up on his side, smiling in his sleep.<p>

Nico thought back to his dream. His subconscious was right; Pedro had really and truly saved his life. He had stuck by his side the entire time Nico was recovering. Now that Maurice was gone, Nico could finally say that he had fully healed. Sure, he would never regain full use of his right wing, but it was a small price to pay for his life.

"Thanks, buddy..." Nico whispered to the sleeping Pedro. "You saved my life..."

Pedro's smile widened a bit, as if he had heard Nico.

Smiling, Nico closed his tired eyes, no longer afraid to go to sleep.

* * *

><p><em>AN: And that's it! Almost EXACTLY 8 months after posting it, I've finally finished Seeing Double! And now it's time to thank all my reviewers! Here we go! Thank you to:_

_KhallieGurl, RainingSunshineEverywhere, Dinosgorawr3, HappySunSad, Akyura44, LittleYellowBirdie, ILOVENICO1000X, ScienceWolf, Takara Matsudaira, Glampyra, Blumacaw13, dragonscale876, crazypopcornlover4ever, EmmerzK (also known as EmK), MissBliss8527, iluvcats09, Shadow Rose- Moondew flowers, Arristo, girs cuppycake, Gothgirl18, Catnip-Packet, Silkmouse, LittleMissOops, Livinginthesunlight, JahMasterWikiwuki, MeloDenesa, CJFANG, NicoXChiku says Cata, VioletAssassin, Rehtribution, mildirk, The Popolisk, Amary22, Anika, Sammy Heroes, Aninat131, Senorldioteque, princess3170, Jessangel249, XxEccentricWriterxX, Elyahu, Count Doofus, BloodWolf35, and finally, my sister Mo. I would also like to thank all those nameless reviewers who left me reviews. _

_I love love LOVE you all, and I couldn't have written this without all of you! I hope the lurkers take this to heart: review, and your name will be mentioned! Also, big thanks to whoever may review this after I post it!_

_Again, I love you all, and I'll try and get the first chapter of the prequel up as soon as possible. It's going to be called "Curse of the Spider."_

_Until then..._

_~Qille out...! =D_


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